Wafting Noises
by BlueMoonsAndTooSoons
Summary: Loosely based on "You've Got Mail"  Hermione and Draco are always dissapearing, and no one could tell you who they're off to meet.  And honestly, neither could they.  Once Draco discovers that he's been secretly talking with Hermione, of all people, to what lengths will he go to prove he could like her no matter their past.  Maybe even love her.  Dramione, and a dose of Blinny.
1. Chapter 1

Wafting Noises

By Desa Gibbons

Hermione was tired and failed to participate in class that day. When McGonagall asked her to demonstrate for the class how to change a glass of butter beer into straight water, she only responded that she couldn't remember it. After a strange look from the teacher, she just nodded and Hermione went back to staring blankly ahead of her and mindlessly swallowing the information. Ms. McGonagall had noticed her inactivity the last few days too, as had many other professors, but due to it's irregularity, they had decided not to mention it. However, if it continued, something would have to be done.

Draco looked behind him at the silent-for-once Granger. It gave him delight to no end that the mudblood was quietly not showing off. He would probably taunt her after class, but he was too tired at that moment to think of any really good insults…

After class, Hermione disappeared into the mass of students before either Harry and Ron or Draco could get to her.

"Did you see Hermione?" Ron asked Harry, eager to see the girl.

"No, but I thought I saw her hair disappear that way, towards the dorms. I suppose we'll see her there to do homework." Harry responded.

"Good. I need her help on my Potions essay. I don't know what it's about." Ron muttered, and the pair started walking down the hall.

"You know, I haven't see much of Hermione since Christmas break." Harry mused. "It's like she's gone off into her own world."

"That's true. And you know that flute that her parents got her? She hasn't put it away. She told me once that she played the flute, but she didn't have one at Hogwarts to play." Ron responded, aimlessly rubbing his lips together.

"Why didn't she just join the Hogwarts orchestra? She could have gotten a flute and the opportunity to play when ever she needed too." Harry offered.

"Too shy, I suppose." Ron mused. "She'll show off anything but her musical talent."

"Assuming of course she has talent." Harry smiled.

"What? Hermione?" Ron shook his head. "I bet she's brilliant. Just because she's… well, just because she is."

However, upon arrival to the Gryffindor common room, they found that Hermione wasn't there as expected.

"Oh bullocks." Ron swore. "My essay is due tomorrow!"

"Why don't you start writing it then?" Harry smirked at his friend, who looked back at him in a panic.

"I've never had to write a potions essay all the way before."

Harry snorted. "I believe it's just like writing any other paper, Ron. You figure it out."

"But…" Ron blurted. Harry didn't even have to hear the rest of that sentence to understand what the young man was trying to say. He never wrote papers. He probably copied his brothers, bribed first years, or had Hermione do it, but he couldn't do it on his own.

Sighing, Harry agreed to help. "We'll find her, Ron." Patting his friend on the back, they exited the commons room. "We'll get Ginny to help us."

Hermione always took the steep slope into the canyon slowly. It was logical; taking steep inclines too quickly increases your chance of falling almost 45%. Yet today, she defied her own mind as she descended at an advanced speed down the mountain side. She was aware of the time and the place, as they were the precursors to an event. It was an event she was eagerly awaiting all day, and it's importance excited her completely. Of course, it was nothing too out of the ordinary. She had done the same thing last night, the afternoon before, and plenty of times over the weekend. Yet every time seemed incredibly special too her, no matter how often it occurred.

Finally, flute case in hand, she reached the bottom of the hill. After taking a small, well-shaded path around the cliff, she found herself deposited in a small, rocky enclosure. It opened up to the whole valley, river, and eventual ground of Hogwarts.

Taking in the breath-taking scene before her with a sense of ease and familiarity, she sighed contentedly.

Then, as if from no where, the gentle strains of a violin were heard wafting up towards her from the valley. The sounds floated up to her outcropping of rock and filled the space warmly before flying up into the sky with the birds on the air. She listened to the haunting melody for a second or so before she opened up her own flute case. Removing the beautiful, silver instrument she began to respond to the violin's music with the same melody. Graduating into a harmony, the two implements of music developed a complicated and free song that had no end in sight.

"Crabbe? Have you seen Draco?" Pansy danced into the Slytherin common room screeching at the unfortunate young wizard.

"I dunno." He scrunched his eyebrows together in frustration.

"No body knows!" She pouted angrily. "Just once, I'd like that boy to be right where I want him to be when I want him."

Daphne Greengrass giggled then from her spot in the corner where she was reading a book. "Sure, but then he wouldn't be so mysterious and so… Draco anymore would he?"

"Shut up, Daphne." Pansy shot back. Then her features settled into the appearance of thought. "But I guess you're right." With that admittance of defeat, Pansy sat herself in the sofa nearest her, just opposite Vincent Crabbe.

It was then the boy offered information. "Why don't you just get a first year to go find him for you? A Hufflepuff or something."

"That's surprisingly clever." Daphne snorted.

"Hey!" Crabbe protested at the implied insult.

"I should. I will." Pansy nodded. "However, they don't listen to me. I'll just get Blaise to do it."

"What about Goyle?" Crabbe asked.

The Syltherin girls looked t him incredulously. All Crabbe could manage was a clueless shrug before Daphne launched into a brief explanation.

"Goyle isn't exactly our friend right now, Crabbe. He snitched on Astoria after he caught her stealing from McGonagall's closet for one of our experiments. Anyway, Draco won't talk to him now, and neither will you if you know what's best for you. None of us are talking to him until he learns not to be a dirty snitcher." She said snootily. She then gave Crabbe a look that made him feel stupid. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"Geeze guys, no one told me." He defended. Pansy rolled her eyes.

"Well if you weren't such a pig at breakfast this morning you would have heard Draco make the announcement. You also would have noticed that Goyle wasn't there."

Crabbe had noticed Goyle absence, but hadn't really bothered to look for him. He assumed he just sat down at some point without him noticing. Their insinuations hurt him and he looked down in embarrassment. "I was hungry." He muttered weakly.

Both girls burst into sarcastic laughter. "I don't see why!" Daphne snorted. "You're so fat!"

Crabbe blushed profusely and looked down at his chubby fingers, where a piece of pound cake was swaddled in a napkin and half-eaten. The girls noticed the delicacy too, and laughed even harder.

'He can't even stop eating now!" Pansy said with an icy edge to her voice.

"Shut up, guys." Crabbe sniffed.

"Oh dear, I think he thinks we hurt his feelings." Daphne said sarcastically. Pansy mockingly mooned with her friend, but couldn't quite stop the giggles. Still, she walked up to the young man and patted his back.

"Don't be upset, Vincent." She said, using his first name. "We're your friends. We just want to help you. Here." She reached down and took the pound cake out of his hands. Setting it on the floor and pulling out her wand, she performed a quick "_Duro_" spell, and laughingly then gave the now-rock hard cake back to Crabbe. He immediately tried to take a bite out of it, but when his teeth couldn't penetrate it, the girls burst into another fit of laughter.

"Come on Daphne, let's get Blaise." The girls linked arms and laughed their way out of the room, still mentioning the "fatty" they left behind them.

Crabbe just sat there, blinking back tears. One managed to escape though, and it splashed off the rock of cake in his hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm taking that nasty liberty of expanding on something I know very little about. I'll explain below if you can't figure it out. Thank you for reading!**

Hermione listened very closely to the sounds that came up from the valley. She and whoever was down there had developed a sort of language so they could communicate. Just as to be suspected, the language was based off music, but because they were wizards, the music could say so much more.

_Are you as tired as I am? _Came the floating strains of the violin.

_Maybe more so. _Hermione responded. _Even after you left, I stayed so I could play longer._

_Can I confess something?_ The violin asked.

_Anything._ Hermione responded eagerly.

_I know you stayed to play. I stayed to listen._

Hermione's heart started beating wildly. Who was this violin masking? Not for the first time, she imagined what the man must be like. She knew it was a man, because he had told her. However, they had drawn the line there. They had agreed that there would be no personal details involved in the communication, that way their friendship could be without blemish, and based solely and a mutual love of music and simple companionship.

_That's very sweet of you. _Hermione wondered if he could hear her blush.

_You're very good. _The violin responded.

Blowing into her flute and playing the notes in a quick, almost erratic way she responded;_ Thank you._

_Can I confess something else? _The violin asked.

_Of course!_ Hermione responded, unsure of what else he could confess.

_I wonder sometimes… I wonder if we should meet. I know we agreed to keep the personal details of our life a secret, but… well, you know what I mean._

She did. Hermione wanted to meet the sweet, sensitive soul behind the beautiful music, but as much as she yearned for it, it frightened her.

_I understand, but I know you understand as well._

_I do._

Hermione kind of wished that he hadn't given up so quickly, but it was nice to have a man respect her boundaries so much.

The violin's sounds floated up again. _How do you feel about another song?_

Hermione smiled. _That would be lovely. Free style? _

_No. A real song. _Gabriel's Oboe_? You know the one._

_Yes. _

And so the violin and the flute wrapped themselves around one another and drifted the sounds of music high into the night sky.

* * *

><p>Blaise Zabini knew how to talk to girls. He was very good at it too, and indulged in those moments of flirting and wooing gladly. He had no repuation as being a player though, just a sweet talker that you enjoyed flirting with. Boys didn't see him as a threat, and enjoyed his company just as much girls did just because he was the smooth and suave guy they wanted to imitate. So when Pansy and Daphne went to find him, they looked in the usual places. The hall, the tower, the courtyard. One place they didn't look was the library in one of the private study rooms. There were no girls to chat up there and no boys to joke with. So they avoided the library on purpose. Blaise wouldn't be there.<p>

But he was.

"Ginny, are you sure you don't want to tell anyone?" Blaise asked the red head sitting across from him.

She shook her head. "Yes. Ron would blow a gasket if I told him I even looked at a Slytherin man twice. I don't really want to tell him I'm romantically involved with one."

Blaise looked forlorn for a second. However, his attraction and admiration for the girl won over his masculine need for control in the situation. "I understand. But I don't want to keep seeing you in private like this for the rest of your lives."

"Something will happen. Something has to happen." Ginny said smugly. "Someone just has to do something more shocking."

"What's more shocking than a Syltherin dating a Gryffindor?" Blaise smirked.

Ginny laughed. "I don't know. But until we can come out in the shadow of something much more engrossing, I think we should maintain some privacy and secrecy."

Blaise took her hand. "At least it means I get you all to myself for a little while longer. I don't especially like sharing you know." He kissed her hand, but Ginny wasn't so easily lost in the clutches of romance. It was one of the things he liked best about her.

"Yet I have to share you for appearences. You get to continue your flirtatious ways with every young lady you meet while I hide away from boys like they were the plauge."

"You say that like you were saying a dirty word." He smirked, kissing her hand again.

"It is dirty, in my mind." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"What if..." Blaise, lay his hand of Ginny's and looked into her eyes, one eye brow raised. "I promise not to enjoy one second of it."

"Hmm. Would you really promise that?"

"I would."

"Well then." Ginny put her hand on top of Blaise's. "I suppose I could agree to that."

Blaise smiled but didn't respond. Instead he leaned forward from his seat in the chair and rested his lips on hers ever so slightly. She responded, but he pulled away smirking.

"Am I allowed to enjoy this?" He asked, as she looked at him cynically.

"That, Mr. Zabini, is a choice I leave to you completely." She retorted. He took that as a yes and leaned in again, but this time he decided to stay a little longer.

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, I don't know if wozards can make music into a language or real communication, but they just did. I hope that doesn't bother any of my fellow Potterheads. I just hope you can enjoy! Thank you for reading, so review now please!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Here she is. Chapter three, standard disclaimer applies. Please read and review! Thank you!**

It was almost eight o'clock, so Hermione thought they'd have to quit for the evening and return back to Hogwarts. She offered the idea to her friend in the valley, and he responded quickly.

_Just a little while longer? We haven't even talked much yet._

Hermione shook her head, even though he couldn't see the gesture. _No, I really need to go. I have homework and studying to do. _

There was silence for a minute. No sounds could be heard except for the tweeting of birds in the trees below and above, and Hermione wondered if he'd left. Had she insulted him?

_Do you think we should meet? _Suddenly floated up to her.

Hermione almost dropped her flute in shock. However, she didn't stay shocked for long.

_No! No, I mean, we decided we wouldn't meet. We decided that our relationship would be better untainted by any actual meeting. _Hermione then had a terrible thought. What if he was ugly and horny? She shuddered.

_I didn't mean to upset you. I was just suggesting it off-handedly in case it was your sentiment. It's just… well, I'm curious to know the real person behind the beauty I hear. _

Hermione thought that was very romantic. She then wondered if he was a poof.

That was when Hermione had enough of her mind. It was over analyzing the situation and bringing the most terrible assumptions to the front of her thoughts. She never thought that way! These were sudden and random, and completely unforgivable notions. There was only one thing for Hermione to do that she thought would override the cautious nature of her intellect.

_No, I'm sorry. Maybe we should meet. I've been curious too. Surely this relationship is strong enough to maintain a personable meeting._

Hermione guessed that he smiled, whoever he was. She wondered what his smile looked like. It was probably wide and friendly.

_How about tomorrow? _

_I don't know. That's really soon…_ It was scarily close.

_How about this…_ He answered, claming her worries. _We'll meet a week from today, in the Library. Middle table. _

_Okay._ Hermione liked the idea. _You'll know who I am because I'll have a book with a rose in it. _

_What book?_

_Hmm… a book about music history in the wizard world. _Hermione actually had a book like that. It would be more than simple to meet this person, and she thought they were being very original about their meeting. It also left the door wide open for escape in case either party found that it was impossible to meet this other person. Ample apology could be provided and then the relationship could be no worse for wear. Hermione was so pleased with the situation in fact, she was more than willing to actually meet him. She wasn't boxed in, he wasn't pressuring her and he let her take command of the situation.

That meant he was confident.

That meant something about him was exemplary and he knew he had nothing to fear, and that she would like him.

One of the many advantages of being a reader is the ability to see all and know all in ways the characters of the story cannot. It's the omnipresent eye that can only belong to someone so completely unaffiliated with the goings on that they are permitted to all the information needed. It's just enough to capture the minds and control the lives of this person for only a little while, and it's all that's needed to completely win over in the pursuit of distraction.

Therefore, with this principle in mind, it is the supreme joy of the author to introduce you to the man behind the violin. I know several of you have guessed it, but for those who are slow to catch on, allow us this glimpse into the day of the violin.

He is tall. It is the first thing you have to know, because it turns out to be very important in understanding him. It's his height that gave him confidence in the beginning and always helped him appear confident even when he wasn't. He isn't so monstrous that he towers over all his classmates, but he can look them all in the forehead, and that's tall enough to be intimidating.

So he is understood to be a slightly intimidating and confident young man who has the ability to walk through the halls completely unhindered by anything else that might get in the way of his progress. He could saunter through the halls and still be on time to class. It is in this situation that we find him now. Meandering through the halls looking around leisurely as though he owned the castle. Soon the halls had cleared out and he had just reached his classroom. Walking in, he found his seat, conveniently in the middle of the room so everyone noticed his arrival. The teacher came into the room only a second later, aware that at least one student had barely made it before he had and decided to ignore it.

"Alright class, today we will be studying the effect of the Disillusionment charm on certain types of clothing. If you wish to pursue it independently you may, but those who wish to be in groups are also allowed to choose their partners. Miss Smithy, will you please help me pass out the fabric samples?" Professor Flitwick called the eternally perky Susan Smithy to help him and she bobbed up to aid.

The sound of eager students finding their friends so they could "study" together in class filled the ear, and the one boy we are following also found his own partners to study with, but nobody in the little group talked. They just looked around the room in a strong manner, an unspoken agreement among them, that they would group together and not allow anyone else access to their tight clique.

Still, the boy sat in the middle, completely aware that he was the center of attention. His platinum hair was in a particular style that looked haphazard but organized and carefully parted just above his left eye. Those eyes were deep and gray and held the unperceivable glance of sensitivity and brilliance inside the small pupils that floated there, completely unfazed by the activity around him.

Professor Flitwick came back out into the room, Susan behind him, both their arms loaded with fabric from the closet. After nodding his head in the direction she should go, he took the opposite way and started passing out clumps to groups to do their testing.

"Here we are, are all your boys a group then?" The professor handed a clump to the boys in the center of the room. He eyed them warily, but nodded his consent. "Mr. Malfoy, I'll ask you to lead the experimenting."

The man behind the violin was none other than Draco Malfoy.

"Draco, do you see Greengrass over there?" Blaise Zabini leaned over to his friend, subtly pointing at Daphne. "Have you talked to her yet?"

"No. She seems to have been avoiding me. Pansy too." Draco smiled. "I feel very relived about it."

"Yeah, well it won't last. They were looking for you last night and you never showed up." Blaise said. "She's awful pissed and will likely attack you when you least expect it."

"I was busy." Draco shrugged off. "I don't feel I owe her an explanation."

"Yeh, well she does." Blaise muttered.

The other boys sitting near Draco and Blaise were mostly inconsequential. Theo Nott and Crabbe were just watching and one other boy that Draco didn't know the name of, but was famous among first years.

"I'll just tell her I was taking a walk." Draco smirked and looked at a piece of cotton in his hands. He cast the disillusionment spell and watched as the small square went from completely visible to invisible in a moment. All the boys wrote down what they saw and then Draco and Blaise started talking again. The other boys whispered to one another, but only the two lead boys dared talk in normal voices.

"You go walking a lot." Blaise noticed.

"Oh yes, I suppose I do." Draco said matter-of-factly. "Maybe it's a euphemism for another activity…"

"What activity?" Blaise interjected.

"Ah, ah, ah, I said maybe. It could also just mean that I enjoy walks. The trails around Hogwarts are very beautiful." Draco smirked again.

"You're impossible. You do realize that one day Pansy and Daphne are just going to follow you until they find out who you snog and where you "walk." Then they'll eat you." Blaise made it sound terrible, but Draco actually appeared to give it thought.

"That might be nice. I'd be free from their tyranny." He nodded, his mouth turned down in a thoughtful frown. "It could actually be… pleasant."

Blaise punched his arm. "You're a git. You wouldn't honestly leave me to fend for myself would you?"

"Blaise, we're Slytherins. I'd leave you in a heart beat if it meant I'd have a chance at a happy future." Draco mocked.

"You are the only person I know who openly makes fun of his own house. Especially for someone who worshipped it before." Blaise poked at his friend.

Draco looked defensive. 'Yeh, well, things change. I discovered the… beauty and… value in Gryffindor house."

Blaise looked at Draco, and Draco looked at Blaise. Both had very serious expressions on their faces. Blaise looked at Draco, and Draco looked at Blaise. Then the corner of Blaise's mouth lifted, and Draco's eyes sparkled, then Blaise chortled and Draco snorted, and the two of them burst into laughter.

"Mr. Zabini, Mr. Malfoy. Contain your selves." Professor Flitwick scolded from his podium where he looked over his class. The boys nodded and Theo Nott cast the disillusionment charm on a bit of polyester. The synthetic material rippled and disappeared after a few seconds, but always remained slightly visible…

**Thanks for reading! **


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't believe I've updated since last year. What a terrible, terrible thing. I only have like... I think 5 readers, and maybe one and a half who really care, but it's not nice to leave that one person hanging. I don't know if anybody guessed this yet though, but this is based off "She Loves Me." Or, for those of you not musically inclined and devoted to Meg Ryan, "You've Got Mail." Do you heart Jimmy Stewart? Then it's based off "The Shop Around the Corner." Or a Judy and Van fan? "Good Old Summertime" might be what you associate this with. But it's okay, because they all have the exact same plot. **

**Standard disclaimer applies.**

When Hermione walked past the library every day, she couldn't help but imagine the meeting that was going to happen there in only a few days time. No one else who saw the girl in the library assumed there was anything different about her visits, nor did the sense the building atmosphere of anticipation that seemed to surround her. Even thought she wasn't one for mushy thoughts, it occurred to her once that she might be meeting her soul mate. On an intellectual level, of course, but still a soul mate of sorts. It was a funny feeling that lingered in the pit of her stomach that seemed to tell her how important that would be.

The only problem was Draco's persistent attendance in the library as well. He was infuriatingly near her during these preceding days to her important meeting, and it put a damper on her excitement. The thought that he might be there to torment her in that important moment was always present in her mind, but she refused to show him her doubts. She maintained her cool, untouchable demeanor, in spite of his sneers.

"What is she doing here?" Draco muttered to Blaise, who was sitting next to him at a study table.

"That's a tough one. You never really know with Hermione do you?" Blaise responded sarcastically. "She could be studying, or possibly reading, or maybe, she decided to be extreme and…" Blaise thought hard for a second, but couldn't come up with any other 'Hermione Activities.' "studying." He finished, earning a grunt from Draco.

"Her presence is putting me on edge." Draco responded pointlessly. Blaise noticed his apathetic annoyance with some amusement.

"Sure, sure. It would be too much to ask the thing to leave wouldn't it? Even if it meant an easier study period. It's not like she can't study in her own dorm." The Italian wizard frowned mockingly. Ignoring the sarcasm, Draco peered at her from behind his book.

"I can't decide the appropriate course of action." He shook his head. "If the…"

He stopped for a second and considered his words carefully. He didn't say mudblood anymore, or at least he tried not to make it his immediate response. Not only had it lost its potency, but it just wasn't a line he cared to pursue. Even though he didn't care for Hermione in the least, he didn't feel it necessary to use the insult. So he came up with a new one off the top of his head just to see what he could do.

"FrizzWhizz," was his first attempt.

"That's terrible." Blaise laughed. "You named her after a candy and partially complemented her. "

"Frump…"

"Lame."

"Gorilla!"

"No. "

Draco thought very carefully now. It had to be something that caught one of her weaknesses and insulted her in an area she was insecure… but where was she insecure?

"I've got nothing." Draco admitted in defeat.

Blaise nodded in understanding. "She's a tough one, but don't worry mate. With a cruel mind like yours, you should be able to come up with something."

"Thank you." The blonde nodded, grateful for the belief his friend had in him. "In the mean time, I think I want to attempt something." Standing up, books under his arm, he marched toward the frizzy haired young woman.

"Excuse me, Granger, but I believe this is my spot." He said harshly, a cold glint in his eye.

"I don't think so." Hermione muttered without looking up from her book.

"I do. I have claims here." Holding his wand discreetly in his left hand, he conjured his name carved into the wood underneath her book.

"Your name isn't written anywhere…" Hermione held up her book at saw the name carved into the wood of the table. "Oh."

"Not get out of my seat, Granger." Draco snapped. However, the girl didn't move.

Instead, she pulled out her wand and muttered something under her breath. The carving glowed a slight yellow before disappearing all together with another flick. "Just as I thought." Hermione muttered triumphantly. "Listen here, Malfoy, I don't move just because you want me to, nor do I find you intimidating. So bugger off."

Draco looked at her lazily. "That's just fine, Granger, but remember this. When you least expect it, I'll get you for this."

Shrugging, Hermione turned back to her work, and Draco marched off sulkily. On his way out, he grabbed Blaise by the collar roughly, pulling him out as well.

* * *

><p>In the evening, as flutes and violins made love to one another in the starlight, Blaise recounted the memory to a petite, red-headed girl who smiled widely at the tale.<p>

"He doesn't effect her like he used too. She's so much calmer now when she takes his abuse." Ginny commented.

"Doesn't he bloody know it. The only weapon he really had against her as failed, and the only chance he has now is to succumb." Blaise laughed merrily, pleased with the events.

"Succumb to what?" Prodded Ginny.

"His feelings. Don't give me that look, of course the blighter has feelings. They're just buried deep and well hidden." Blaise winked at Ginny. "I believe he might have a feeling or two that lacks total animosity for her."

Ginny pondered that. "Perhaps. He does seem... less Draco-ish now. He never says 'mudblood' anymore, either. Did you notice?"

"Everyone's noticed." Blaise stood up and walked away from the place he and Ginny were sitting on the steps. It was just a secluded hallway in the middle of the castle, but near it was a window that looked out over the grounds beneath the tower and the landscape all around. It was where the Slytherin and the Gryffindor had first met, thus, they met here often.

"Do you think it means he's finally torn himself away from his father?" Ginny asked, coming and standing next to him, looking into the distance through the glass.

"Can I tell you something? You'd have to keep it a secret, of course." Blaise suddenly turned to the girl next to him, who grinned mischievously.

"I'll keep it. Promise." She held up her hand like she was taking a vow. Blaise smirked and switched her hands, so the correct side pretended to take the oath.

"Draco has a violin." He confided quietly. But the surprised Weasley had the ill-manner to respond with a snort.

"Really?" She laughed, scrunching up her nose.

"Really. I saw him slide it into his compartmentalizing bag once. He didn't know I was there..."

"Draco Malfoy, bad boy gone good, saved by the power of music!" Ginny mocked, almost doubling over with laughter. But she straightened, with pretend sincerity. "Of course, I won't tell, even if it is too good to keep to myself."

"You better not tell, Ginevra Molly Weasley." Blaise said in a low voice. Ginny protested at the use of her full name, a name she didn't particularly like. However, Blaise caught her arms and held her close. "Draco may be a git sometimes, but he's still my best friend..." Ginny laughed a little, but Blaise only smiled a little and continued. "So we may only mock him behind his back."

"Agreed." Ginny held back her laughter, but that didn't stop her from letting it loose a little bit later.

Feeling a little bit proud and a little bit satisfied, Blaise looked at the red head in his arms. She was his, in a sense, and he was hers. It was, in truth, only a private romance, but that didn't make it any less special to him. He liked having her all to himself. Thinking of these things, he leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers. They looked at each other with humor in their eyes for a moment, but it was soon replaced with something else. Something a little more... relational. Simultaneously, they moved their faces closer until their lips met in the center with a little too much force. Neither noticed it's passion, despite the fact they felt it acutely. They just pushed and pulled against each other's lips, Ginny's hand's still caught in his.

**Thank you for reading! As always, I'm going to beg you to read and review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for the sweet reviews. They were all very delightful to read! Here is the next chapter. I'll admit it's short, and sort of a filler, but I think it sets up the atmosphere rather well. So that's really all you're looking for in this chapter: Atmosphere.**

**Consider this story disclaimed.**

There was a frenzy on Draco's part, and it came from knowing that Hermione Granger annoyed him immensely, but he no longer knew why. It was almost as if he was holding on to that annoyance for another reason, and it had nothing to do with her. She was the last aspect of his old life that he had, and her easily made-fun of existence worked as a sort of cord. Unsure what it meant, Draco went out of his way now to torture her, but it only grew comical and less hurtful in her eyes. She wasn't offended by him, or even slightly hurt. The only emotion offered up was puzzlement, and it only made Draco attempt to humiliate her more.

This seemed to prove Blaise's point, even if it didn't seem too. Ginny, at first, didn't understand it, until she saw that his mockery was clownish overkill.

"You were right." Ginny conceded, sliding a galleon across the study table discreetly. Pleased, Blaise pocketed the coin.

"I do know him best of all. It still doesn't make sense to me why you'd want to make a bet on something where you were so ill informed." Blaise mocked in a whisper.

Shaking her head she responded, "I couldn't resist the bet. That's another on of my flaws; Avid gambler." She pointed on a blank piece of paper next to Blaise.

Blaise nodded, happy that he had another flaw to add to his list. She was trying to prove her imperfection, something Blaise doubted highly.

"You know, no matter how long this list gets, each item still sounds like a constituent of perfection. Gambling is something I look for in a woman."

Ginny sighed, worried once again about the ideal of perfection she was living up to in Blaise's eyes.

"Hermione, Professor Binns caught me sleeping in class today and assigned two extra pages of homework." Ron muttered glumly. "If you don't do it for me, I'll fail!"

"Looks like you're failing then." Hermione responded tartly. "I don't do you punishment work, Ron. You need to learn the lesson everyone else has learned."

"What lesson is that?" Ron shot his head up as several near-by listeners started to snicker.

"An ever-awake potion." Seamus snorted, tossing a small vial towards Ron, who caught it delicately.

"What?" Ron gasped, looking at the brown potion carefully. "Why didn't anyone tell me about this?"

"Don't you remember it?" Dean asked, smirking at the people around him, fully aware that Ron would not remember. "We learned it in Potions class near the beginning of the year. We had to write an essay about it."

Ron looked at Hermione, who appeared smug, and blushed. "Gee Hermione… you could've told me what my essay was about."

"I did." She looked him in the eyes. "You brushed me off."

"Bugger…" Ron clutched the little vial tighter, but Seamus swooped in and took it back.

"Ah, ah, ah, that's mine. You 'ave to make your own." He said. Then he and Dean left the room, chuckling.

"Hermione… Will you make me one?"

"Absolutely not. You'll have to make it yourself. And I won't be doing any more school work for you either." She handed him a pad of paper and a feather pen, and ordered him to get started on his homework. "And you better do it quickly," she added. "because it's nearly dinner time."

"I'll do it after dinner…" He said, but Hermione interrupted him.

"You can't. Punishment assignments must be completed before the dinner hour or they are not allowed to attend supper."

Somewhere above them, a bell rang, signaling dinner time. Ron started to panic, and Hermione gave him a sad smile. "I'll bring you a role."

In the opinion of Harry, Hermione had just been incredibly wicked.

"That isn't a real rule." He pointed out, after Hermione told him the tale.

"It should be." Hermione sighed contentedly, looking about the room. "You know, it's nice not to hear the sound of saliva glands vomiting isn't it?"

"That's hardly fair…" Harry blushed for his friend's sake. Hermione was being uncharacteristically cruel.

"I'm teaching him a lesson, Harry." She quipped. "I will no longer allow him to slide by school, asking me to do all his homework, and not taking responsibility for his life."

"He learns more than you think he does, you know. He just doesn't like doing the work."

"That's part of it!" Hermione shrieked.

Ginny decided to add her opinion in as well. "I agree with Hermione. Ron might turn out fine enough, but he will lack the skills to do better than fine."

Hermione grinned triumphantly. "Exactly. No body wants to settle with 'fine.'"

Draco Malfoy walked behind her at that moment, and announced loudly, "She obviously settled for fine when failed to fix her teeth."

Hermione rolled her eyes mentally. "I had them fixed in third year, Malfoy."

Glancing at her teeth, Draco saw she was right. He didn't respond though, and simply went on his way to the Slytherin table.

"Poor Malfoy." Ginny muttered knowingly. "Can't even insult you anymore. At least not accurately."

"He's still a git." Hermione responded, looking over her shoulder at the tall blonde for a second.

"Nah…" Harry started, but two female pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

"What's that?" Hermione gasped.

"Aw, come on. You know he isn't that bad anymore. He's calmed down, it seems. Doesn't… well, he doesn't really bully anyone about anymore. He's kind of… not-cruel." Harry picked his words carefully. Ginny was already sold on the idea though, so she sided with him, much to Harry's relief.

"You have to have noticed it Hermione." Ginny prodded.

"No! I haven't." The girl in question asserted. "If anything, his hatred towards me has grown. He's just absolutely nasty!"

"No, no, no." Ginny shook her head emphatically. "It's like over kill! He's masking his feelings with an abundance of insults and bad behavior."

"And how would you know that, Oh-mind-reading Ginny?" Hermione asked sarcastically.

_I have inside knowledge, Ginny thought, but of course she didn't say it. "It just seems to be that way."_

"_I think Ginny is right." Harry nodded in agreement. "He doesn't say anything to me at all. Nothing nice, but nothing mean either." _

"_He only addresses me as Weaslette, but nothing else." Ginny added. _

"_And he doesn't call you…" Ginny looked around before whispering, "the 'm' word." _

"_I guess…" Hermione conceded. "But that doesn't make him a saint!"_

"_Certainly not!" Ginny laughed. "But it does make him a more acceptable life form." _

_Hermione couldn't help but laugh a little bit. That would be all Draco was. An acceptable life form. _

_That was comfortable. _


	6. Chapter 6

**At the moment, I can't remember who left the review, but to whoever said the only bad thing about this story was that there wasn't more, thank you. It inspired me to write this next chapter from my sick bed. You are too cool. **

**(I just updated this chapter for two reasons. 1.) I watched "The Shop Around The Corner" and I remembered some lines that needed to pay homage in this story, and 2.) I wasn't completely satisfied with Hermione's reaction to him. So here is the updated chapter. I hope you'll at least re-read the scene where Draco meets her. Thank you!)**

**Review please!**

It had been a week since their last meeting, and the violin and the flute were ready to meet. The flute made sure her hair wasn't frizzy and her clothing was acceptable for this type of meeting. She dressed casually, in a pair of corduroys and a nice sweater her mum had given her for Christmas. She didn't look to fancy, but she thought she looked acceptable enough. Grabbing her book on wizard music history, and rose in the vase near by, she headed out the door… until Ginny caught her and pushed her back in her room.

"I know you're meeting someone tonight." She explained, kicking the door shut behind her. "And I won't ask you who or how you met or anything like that. I'm just going to dress you up a little bit."

"Ginny, this is completely unnecessary." Hermione reasoned, holding her hands up in surrender. "This is an intellectual meeting of minds, not a date."

"Is he a boy?" Ginny prodded.

"…Yes."

"Will you be meeting any others specifically?"

"No."

"Do you like him just a little bit?"

"Noo…" Hermione started, but Ginny gave her a very sardonic look. "Well, yes, but only because of his mind."

"I don't care how nerdy your pretenses are, this is a date. You will look a little bit nicer than this. Do you have a skirt?"

"Godric, no! Why would I need a skirt at school?"

"I didn't think so. Alright then, you'll just have to wear one of mine." Ginny went to her dresser and opened a drawer near the bottom. She pulled out a skirt that was a soft yellow color with a vibrant, but subdued floral print on it. It looked to be a little less than knee length, but was full enough to look completely modest.

"Oh, that's not so bad." Hermione conceded, giving the garment a once over. "I guess I could wear it."

"It's going to be lovely on you, Hermione." Ginny assured, tossing it to her friend. Hermione put the skirt on in place of the "vile corduroys" and Ginny looked at the outfit with more approval, but when she looked at Hermione's legs, she balked.

"Oh Mione!" She gasped. "You have… nice legs, but they're so…" Ginny couldn't even finish her statement, she was so disgusted. Hermione looked down and all she saw were her legs. No cuts, not bruises, no unnatural birthmarks. Just, legs.

"What's wrong with them?" Hermione asked.

"They have to be shaved. Now." Ginny exclaimed, whipping out her wand.

Now Hermione balked. "Ginny, I'm not familiar with any spells that remove hair from the body in a good way…"

"No, relax. It's a cool one that Fleur taught me. A French beauty spell, she called it. Essential for any witch on the go." Ginny furrowed her brows as she considered how to do this. "Alright, now don't move. _La Jambe se Rase"_ Ginny chanted, pointing her wand at Hermione's legs. Almost immediately, all the hair fell out and drifted to the floor.

To Hermione, it felt like her legs had been covered in plastic and then the plastic had been rubbed all over her legs. Now they just felt naked and bare. "Yuck!"

"_Evanesco"_ Ginny finished, making all the hair disappear. "You look very nice now, Hermione. The sweater isn't so bad, and the skirt complements your shape very well. Did you do your own hair?"

"Yeah… is it acceptable, Miss Weasley?" Hermione said sarcastically. The sarcasm was lost of Ginny though, who thought Hermione seriously cared.

"It'll do for an intellectual meeting of minds." Ginny clapped. "All right, off you go. Here's your book. I'll ask for all the details when you get back." The red head promised, pushing Hermione out the door.

The violin, for some reason, decided to take a wingman with him.

"I don't understand why I'm doing this." Draco muttered, as he walked down the hall, Blaise by his side.

"Because you might really love this girl, whoever she is. But you won't tell me anything about this mysterious meeting, so I don't really know how to answer you here." Blaise said carelessly.

"I don't know that I love her." Draco reasoned. "I just feel that because we have so much in common, we have a chance at having a meaningful relationship."

Blaise sighed happily. "Did I ever tell you what my favorite sound is? The sound of a man talking in denial. It's funny to hear him so obviously suppress his feelings and pretend he's a stoic, plutonic rock. Best sound in the world."

"Sod off, you lump. I am not in denial. I just don't know why I wanted to meet her. What is she's… ugly." Draco thought with horror. "Or terribly deformed?"

"That shouldn't matter, as long as she meets you intellectually." Blaise mocked, using a terrible impression of Draco's voice.

"Seriously! I don't know if I could manage to look past that." Draco stopped. "I shouldn't be meeting her at all. She won't like me because I'm Draco Malfoy. She's probably this sweet, ugly little Ravenclaw 5th year who just happens to…" Draco stopped talking, not wanting to give away how he knew this girl. Blaise, who had looked eager to hear, was disappointed that his friend had stopped short.

"You know what, I'll look at her first, to see if she's ugly or deformed. How's that?" Blaise offered, standing in front of Draco.

"Yes! That's great. Thank you!" Draco nodded enthusiastically. "And if she's ugly, I'll go talk to her. Or I won't. I don't know." The little burst of confidence left him as he realized it had no basis.

"What is she's really attractive?" Blaise asked.

"Bullocks… I hadn't thought of that. What if she is pretty?" Draco looked ready to turn around again, but Blaise made him keep going forward.

"I don't know anything really, but I do know you're never this nervous about meeting a girl. Look, all you have to do is go, decide if you want to talk to her, and then leave. Or stay and have a nice chat with a nice girl. It's not hard."

"You are right." Draco nodded. He adjusted his blazer, and then walked forward, confidence renewed.

When they arrived at the library, Draco refused to look in until Blaise had gotten a look at the middle table and they figured out who the mystery girl was.

"Just take a peek, Blaise." Draco urged. "Is she ugly?"

"Hold on…" The Italian looked around the corner and tried to find the middle table that Draco had specified. He found it soon, and peered at the lone girl sitting there. His eyes widened. "No… she's not ugly."

"Yes!" Draco said gleefully. "Oh, but is she… well, is she remotely attractive?"

Blaise looked at the girl sitting there calmly, with her yellow, floral skirt and cozy looking sweater.

"She's… well, she's pretty." Blaise said, trying to keep a normal voice on him. It was getting difficult, because things were working out better than he'd ever expected them too.

"Just pretty? Or is she gorgeous?" Draco demanded, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet and back.

"Well now, she sort of has the coloring of Hermione." Blaise answered vaugely. "And Hermione has... a pretty coloring."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Blaise looked thoughtful as he pondered this statement. "Well, let's just say that if you don't like Hermione, you won't like this girl."

"Why not?" Draco pulled a face.

"Because it is Hermione." Blaise stated, coming back from around the corner.

"What? Salazaar, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you didn't ask who it was, only what they looked like." Blaise shrugged.

"No. No, no, no, I am not going in there. Not a chance." Draco shook his head emphatically. "She isn't pretty, Blaise. Well, she isn't really ugly either… but she's… She's Hermione."

"No matter what you say, you will still want to meet her at the end of the day. So go talk to her."

"Nope. Not happening." Draco shook his head and took off down the hall way, Blaise following at a slower pace, hands shoved into his pockets.

Every time someone walked into the library, Hermione turned her head to look. No one noticed her in a way that suggested they were looking for her, and no one came to sit down. Assuming the violin was running late, she just contented herself to waiting and reading. Her heart, however, seemed to be getting faster and faster with every minute.

"Well, well, well, Hermione Granger, what are you doing here?"

"Bugger off, Malfoy. I'm not in the mood. Besides… I'm studying."

"So I see." Draco looked at the book. "History of Music in the Wizarding World by Shauff Broihmen. Interesting choice of reading material. I didn't know you liked music."

"I do. You know, there are a lot of things about me you don't know. Things that would suprise you." Hermione, stiff upper lipped, said.

"I'm sure I know more about you than you think." He answered, as vaugely as Blaise had answered him before. He then proceeded to sit down in the seat opposing her. She protested.

"Oh! Are you waiting for someone?" Draco sneered slightly.

"As a matter of fact, I am." Hermione stated, annoyed by the man in front of her.

"Is that what the rose if for? How clichéd." Draco picked up the rose sniffed it.

"Put that down!" Hermione swatted the rose out of his hand, and it landed on the table with a thump, a couple petals falling off. "Yes, I'm waiting for someone. He was supposed to meet me here…"

"Was? So he stood you up?"

"No." Hermione looked hurt. She hadn't thought that he would stand her up. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for his lateness."

Draco shook his head. "Oh, there's always an explanation, but they usually go by the term 'excuse.' Now tell me, how well do you know this guy?"

"I don't see why you care. You know, I wish you'd leave. You might be scaring him off!" Hermione snapped.

"Weak fellow if he'd be scared off just because another man is sitting near his woman." Draco looked like he pitied the guy. "He's really only a boy. You shouldn't be dating boys. Now tell me, how well do you know him. What does he look like?"

"I don't know." Hermione answered him. "But that doesn't matter because I know his soul. He is a sensitive, brilliant, and humorous _man_ who is noble and kind, and knows me very well. He definitely isn't you." She added with a bite.

Draco nodded at this assessment, both flattered and insulted. "A Gryffindor then?"

Hermione looked at a loss for words for a brief moment, but then confirmed his presumption with gumption. "Yes! He couldn't be anything else."

"I see." Draco stood up then, and walked away. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, and hoped her date came soon.

"Hello, your name is Hilda, right? Well, hi Hilda, my name is Draco Malfoy… Oh well, thank you, I'm flattered you know me. I know this is inconvenient, but I was wondering if I could have your seat? Yes, it's a strange request, but it's closest to the history of magical creatures section, and there are no other seats near… I really hate walking all over the library… Thank you, Hilda. You are so kind. Thank you."

The flattered and gooey Miss Hilda Butterfield gathered her books and scurried off, whispering to her friend that Draco Malfoy was totally in to her. Hermione sighed.

"Are you going to sit there all evening?" She asked, looking straight ahead.

"Oh, no. Just until you date comes. I thought I'd keep you company." Draco said cordially. "And since I was scaring him away by sitting across from you, I settled for being near you."

"That's not really helping." Hermione snapped. "You are still putting me on edge... You know what really bothers me about you? You aren't real. In your head, where there should be a brain, you have hair gel. Where there should be a heart, you have a wand, and where there should be a soul, you only have rocks. A pool of gray rocks." She nodded firmly with her assesment and turned away. She didn't see his slightly hurt face, but if she had, she might have been a little bit ashamed. She wasn't mean, and even if it was Draco Malfoy, it wasn't fair for her to change her character.

"Sorry about that." Draco shrugged. But then he leaned in close, so his voice was suddenly louder in her ear. "And what if this guy doesn't show up at all? What will you do?"

Hermione turned around to face him again. "I will keep on corresponding with him because he is still the most intelligent man I've ever met. We'll forget this whole thing ever happened, and we won't bring it up again. It was better that we stayed anonymous anyway."

Upset, Hermione stood up and marched out of the library, taking her book with her. The rose however, she left sitting on the table. Draco picked it up and shoved it in his pocket, relieved that he hadn't lost her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for the reviews! Here's chapter 7! More Blaise as well, in fact, the majority of it is Blaise. Enjoy the "Italian Stallion" and review when you are done.**

"What do you mean you went back to talk to her?" Blaise whispered furiously. His statements were precise and staccato, leaving little room for the saliva in his mouth. The only place it had to go, was out.

Wiping his face, Draco replied; "That's what I said."

"And how does she feel about you being her mystery man?" Blaise mocked, his tome completely condescending. Draco couldn't see why, as he had done exactly as Blaise had instructed him.

"I didn't tell her about that, exactly..." Draco rubbed his neck. "I just… talked to her."

"What?" Blaise, if possible, seemed angrier now. If they weren't sitting in potions class, Draco knew his friend would be yelling now. His tone betrayed him.

"What did I do wrong?" Draco asked, confused.

"For starters, you said you weren't going to see her. At all. Then, you decide to go see her anyway and torment her… Don't protest, I know that's exactly what you did. Asked her about who she was meeting, took the seat, acting as if you weren't him." Blaise shook his head in disgust. "She's never gunna like you know, boy."

"I wouldn't be so sure." Draco mused. "For starters, I could…"

"Stop talking. You should break off your communication with her. I don't know how you're doing it, but what ever it is, you need to stop." Blaise commanded.

"That's noble." Draco snorted. "Here we have the perfect set up to annoy the hell out of Granger and you want me to drop it. Rich."

Blaise pulled a face and looked to the front of the class. Yes, it sounded noble, but it was really selfish. Hermione would tell Ginny about her troubles, and lament them in detail. Then Ginny would meet Blaise and the majority of their conversation would be about Hermione's issues. It wasn't that Blaise didn't like talking to Ginny, because he did. But if he had to choose between kissing her and talking about Hermione with her, kissing trumped it. So it was best to remove as many Hermione related problems out of the picture.

"You could say I've become gallant at heart. Listen, I still think you should end it with her." Blaise poked him in the arm. "Besides, you and I both know that you don't take the same delight in torturing her as you used too."

"I resent that."

"Sure. The point is you can't keep doing this." Blaise poked him again.

Draco mulled it over for a second. "Alright. I'll break it off."

* * *

><p><em>I'm sorry I couldn't make it.<em> Said the violin, it's notes drifting through the trees beneath Hermione's feet.

_We all have problems sometimes. _Hermione responded with the ethereal sound of her flute. _Can you explain why you didn't make it?_

…_Homework. _Draco played an awkward note. Then he swore.

_Really? _Impressed, Hermione wondered what this meant. He was responsible. He cared more about his academics than girls. Hermione found that impressive.

_Yeah. I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you right away._ Draco made a hurried response.

_I understand. _Hermione trilled back. _I think you're very bold._

_How? _Draco was beginning to feel relief. She didn't hate him!

_Not many people would focus so much on school. I'm… impressed. _

Score. Draco thought.

* * *

><p>"You cut it off right?" Blaise raised his eyebrows.<p>

"Yes." Draco nodded, over emphasizing.

"I'm not talking to you ever again." Blaise stood up from the Slytherin common room sofa. "At least not until you break it off with Hermione."

"Aw, Blaise, come on." Draco protested. "It's not fair that you should break up our wonderful friendship just because I'm leading a girl on…"

"Even you caught the error in that statement didn't you?" Blaise pointed, his eyebrows raised in triumph. "I am friends with Draco Malfoy. He doesn't lead on girls _intellectually._ No! That stud is all physical. You are not said Draco Malfoy. I cannot be friends with you, because you are not my friend."

"That wasn't the error I caught. I just noticed that I ended my sentence with a preposition. You aren't supposed to do that." Draco coolly replied.

"Draco also doesn't correct his own grammar like a Hermione Granger would. Who are you?" Blaise cried in mock horror.

"I'm going down for dinner. You coming?"

"Yeah, just give me a minute. I need my robe." Blaise shrugged and walked into his dorm room, returning a second later with his robe and a pleasant attitude.

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that… that… bastard bailed on her! And then had the nerve to say "Oh, I'm sorry, I had <em>homework. <em>Home work! What a terrible excuse!"

Blaise was beginning to wonder if he should have been more persistent in making Draco break it off with Hermione.

"And then Malfoy's nerve, just waltzing in there and taking his place, as if he owned the library. I can't stand either one of them. Both are spineless freaks." Ginny hit the table in front of them.

"Ginny, Ginny, calm down." Blaise said lethargically. "If you make too much noise, someone will come in here and disturb our make-out session."

"What make-out session?"

"My point exactly. Look, Hermione has some boy problems. I let you tell me about them, but Draco also has girl problems. I don't tell you about those." Blaise hinted.

"You could if you wanted too. I could give you advice to give to Malfoy, even though in my mind he doesn't deserve my help. After what he did to Hermione? Maybe the other guy did show up, but saw Draco and left. Malfoy can be intimidating you know. Poor guy… I don't blame him for leaving." Ginny sighed. "It's not his fault Malfoy can be a big, scary, jerk."

"But I thought you hated both of them…" He looked at the ceiling, trying to remember what her opinions were in order.

"No! Of course not. I only hate Draco!" Ginny rubbed Blaise's arm comfortingly. "Don't try and keep up. It never works."

"Good advice." Blaise said, settling into his role of non-committal listener. "I can do that."

Ginny smiled and was about to continue her rant when she realized that none of it was left. She had finished. Pleased, she sat down gently on Blaise's lap. "I think I'm out of things to say."

"Oh thank goodness!" He panted, before pressing his lips her hers. Just in case anything else came up, he would be there, like a pacifier, keeping them down.

**Once upon a time, I used to be a reader that loved stories, but never reviews. I thought it was silly. Then I became a writer, and I realized how important those reviews are for morale. So please, remember my testimony and review the stories you read. Starting with this one, of course. It doesn't have to be alot. It can just be two letters for all I care (One is just ridiculous. 2 says "I care enough to hit my keyboard. Twice.) But just leave a sweet little review. PLEASE?**


	8. Chapter 8

**I think this is my longest chapter, but you guys deserve it after such a long break where I died. But here I am, and I have a perfect reason, but I don't need to tell it to you. Let it suffice to say that we've been very busy in my home, and life is only just now starting to cool down. Thanks for your patience and your splendid reviews! I love you all! **

_Do you know what kind of violin I have? _Draco called up into the sky where he knew Hermione was waiting.

_No… What kind is it? _She responded promptly and eagerly.

_An original Antonio Stradivari. He was a half-blood wizard living in muggle Cremona, Italy, and he made the most perfect violins known to man or wizard. No one could ever discover what he did to the violin to give it the ineffable sound it has. _

_I guess it was some kind of spell to make it as beautiful as it is… _Hermione mused in return. _I do love listening to your violin. _

_Yes, it was a spell. But no one has been able to figure it out for centuries. I think I have. _Draco only added the last part hesitantly. He wasn't sure if that would appear cocky or not. Heaven knew he didn't want to seem over-confident.

_Marvelous! Can you tell me?_ Hermione's flute trilled back the notes quickly, reassuring the young man beneath her that new information always took precedence. No matter if it was proclaimed in a self-appreciating way, the knowledge would be just as fervently learned as any thing else she came across. It was her way, and it's predictability was a blessing to Draco.

_Yes, of course. _As we went on to describe the logistics behind the spell, something else twittered in his mind. He was pretty sure he hated Hermione Granger, yet here he was, sharing these highly personal discoveries with her. How was it different from telling them to a complete stranger? Maybe it was simply psychological, but having known her for who she really was without truly knowing her… changed his opinion of whoever she could be. Did it make sense? Not really. The only thing that was truly registering, was that he might not hate her like he thought. In fact, he might actually consider her a viable option for non-hatred, even if it was firmly rooted in the friend zone… _You and I, perhaps…_

That was when it hit him. He actually liked her. Granger. Former buck-toothed, frizzy-haired, bookworm Granger. While his head was saying Granger though, his heart was simply saying…

Hermione.

_That's just brilliant! _The flute sang in complement, spending a brief moment harmonizing with the violin. The notes hung there for a second before everything went quiet in the world. Inside Draco, everything was just now starting to sing.

Hermione…, Hermione…

"Ginny, do you think it's possible to fall in love without seeing a person?" Hermione mused one evening, looking up from the book she was reading.

The redheaded girl lazily opened her eyes, and gave Hermione a long stare. She pushed herself up off the maroon sofa and stood in front of Ginny. "Why?"

"I think… Well I think he has."

"Is that so?" Ginny started to smirk. "Your intellectual meeting of minds has backfired and one of you has fallen in love."

Hermione shook her head. "He has."

"I say it's still up for debate. Listen," Ginny sat next to her friend and took one of her hands. "Don't commit to anything until you see him and get to know him face to face too. I don't know how you're communicating with him and being all intellectual, but I do know you aren't reaching that point of intimacy…"

"Yuck, Ginny. What are you implying?" Hermione gagged.

"You know that's not what I meant. I just mean seeing each other in person. That's more intimate than your disgustingly platonic relationship right now." Ginny rolled her eyes. "Why do you think he's in love with you?"

"Well, in our correspondence," Hermione started.

"Which is what exactly?" Ginny interrupted.

"That's not important. In our correspondence, he was… telling me about a complex spell he had figured out. In the middle of the correspondence, I suddenly heard the phrase "You and I, perhaps…" It had no meaning or sense in the context, and he moved on like he had never said it. I was tactful enough not to point it out, but I felt it was some sign that his subconscious was sending forth as an alert. I guess this is just conjecture, but I felt it inside of me too."

"That's intimate." Ginny nodded her approval, her lips pressed together in a flat line. "As if he called to your soul or something."

"No… It's always been a side effect of the correspondence. If they say it, you feel that's what they meant to say. I can't explain it very well, but it's a strictly two way trip that requires the mental and physical participation of both parties to set it up and go through the motions…"

As Hermione went on to explain the situation of her correspondence perfectly well, in spite of her protests, Ginny began to wonder how she could speed the process of this little relationship along.

It was a free study period for all the seventh years , and Hermione, per usual, was in the library, finding new research material for an essay. As she ran her fingers along the spines of the book, listening for the stories and information rustling beneath the pages, she noticed that a figure was moving synonymously with hers. She froze, and the figure froze. She stepped backwards, and the figure moved with her, just in time. Peeves maybe? Playing a little trick to scare her? Not likely, as he rarely ventured into the library after an incident with Madam Pince last year. She reached out to grad a book that had caught her attention, and the figure disappeared. Assuming a trick of the light or some careless magic left around, Hermione turned to head back to her study table; And found herself nose to nose with Draco Malfoy.

"Oh, Hello Granger, I didn't see you there." He offered his hurried excuse in a friendly manner that sent up red flags in Hermione's mind.

"Malfoy." She nodded curtly and tried to sidestep his form, but he stood in her way. Still, he wasn't trying to be imposing, just maintain her attention. "Do you need something?"

"No, not really. Just thought I'd… stand… here." In spite of his lack of words, he was confident, like he just stood in people's ways all the time and thought it was completely normal.

"Is that so? I liked it better when you stood on the other side of the shelf."

Draco smirked. "How'd you know it was me? Would you carry on a conversation with me if I was on the other side?"

"I'd be more likely too, as I wouldn't have to see your face. That always makes me more comfortable." Hermione cheerfully replied, a note of sarcasm dripping off her words.

He simply shrugged off her slight insult, and complied. Once he was perfectly opposite her, he asked; "Is this better?"

"It'll do." She said, and continued perusing the shelves. She had what she needed from this row, but she pretended to stay with purpose, so she could see what Malfoy wanted.

"What are you researching?" He quipped, pulling a book off the shelf.

"Counter-curses from the early 14th century that no longer work today." She answered lazily.

"Why would you study something that doesn't even apply to you today?" Draco asked, strolling a long as she did.

"It's just interesting how certain charms evolve past the rudiments of magic and into the complexity of charms. As spells got more powerful, the simply counter curses stopped working, and they had to find new ones." Hermione explained, but then she stopped and tilted her head. "Why on earth do you want to talk to me anyway?"

"I see. By studying what they did then, you'll be prepared to recreate their procedure in case the magic evolves again. That's brilliant." Draco nodded his approval, then answered her last question. "I think that's pretty clear, Granger."

"I'm not sure it will happen in my life time, because I don't think we have enough people focused on vamping spells up past current, traditional levels, but one or two might surface… No, it's not clear. We don't like each other, at all."

"I actually know of a few where the counter curse seems to be weakening in it's power. You'll have to take a look at them, and see what can be done." Then Draco laughed. "We don't have to like each other to get along."

"I'd be interested in that actually. Thanks. And yes you do! It's a requirement of being friends!" Hermione snapped.

"Friends? I didn't know you wanted to be friends, Granger." Draco leaned up to the shelf, resting his arms there so Hermione could see his face clearly.

"I don't… You're the one making the overtures."

Draco knew that was true, but it couldn't hurt to twist the facts in life just a little bit. The ground he tread held deep dangers if he couldn't keep watch.

So Hermione shot out her line to see what she might catch, and Draco grabbed it, eager to be pulled in for inspection. "What's your angle?" She said, baiting her words.

"Angle? A person doesn't always have to have an angle." Draco snorted.

"Of course." Hermione pulled a face and turned to face him directly through the shelves rather than amble through. "A person has an angle whether they realize it or not. You're mind knows, subconsciously, what you might get from carrying out a certain scenario. Therefore you act on it, but you keep that angle out of your mind to keep your motives as innocent as you can."

"Is that what you do?" Draco raised his eyebrows. "When you talk with Potter and Weasle-bee, you have some angle?"

"Well…"

"See!" Draco pointed at her gleefully. "You go and accuse me of having angles, and you explain to me why. When I accuse you, you deny it completely. For, as accurate as your description was, it still appears shallow, and you won't admit to it."

"I didn't say that! Yes… I have angles. But they are pure and simple motives that don't pervert the relationship." Hermione looked puzzled for a second, pressing her lips together. Draco watched her think, and decided to use her silence to speak.

"Alright, then I have angles too. They are just as 'pure and simple' as yours I'm sure."

Her thoughts were completely disturbed as she laughed out loud. "You? Pure and simple? Ha!" Hermione laughed.

Madam Pince came around the corner. "Hush, Miss Granger!"

"I'm sorry." She whispered back, before turning her attentions back to the blonde. "Really Draco, must I call numerous instances into view where you have been anything but pure and simple. Try malicious and scheming."

Hermione didn't ant to know anymore. So she stood up and tried to leave the row again, but Draco was too quick. He came directly in front of her and she backed up until her back hit the shelves.

"That's not an accurate statement, Miss Granger, and you excel at accurate statements." He said hoarsely.

Hermione cursed the day they built the library. Not because the library itself was bad, but they built a lot of one way shelves, and they put her in compromising situations. The only way out, was the place where Draco stood.

"I…" She started, but the look on Draco's face made her stop. He seemed tormented, his eyes a stormy gray, flecks of blue swirling in the depths. He didn't speak for a second, but when he did, his words were carefully chosen, and spoken slowly.

"There is no crime worst committed, than the reliving of ones past transgressions. It's a crime against self and memory, and there should be no crime in those places. I was cruel for years, but now I refuse to be that way. Can we just… agree not to make that an issue? I've dealt with it, and I no longer want it haunting my life."

Hermione had a smart remark ready, but she couldn't say it now. The only thing she could think to say was just the most horrible phrase ever. And she said it, for some, unknown reason.

"Sometimes, the past haunts us forever, and we can't stop it."

"Well that's rot." Draco snapped. "Let's hope that's not how it is between friends."

"Not usually." Hermione said quietly. "But we aren't friends, are we?"

_I feel so terrible!_ Hermione played furiously on the flute. She didn't expect a response, as she was here at an irregular hour and merely venting her frustration. _How could I be such a nasty person!_

_I doubt you meant to be nasty. _The violin suddenly soared up and filled her with relief. He was listening and cared!

_But I was! For once in my life I said the worst thing I could possibly say, and I feel absolutely rotten about it. As much as it's anticipated, meanness never really feels good._ Hermione let the notes soak into the world around her, permeating the sky and the trees and the rocks. It was good to hear the sound of music around her after being away from it for so long.

_Maybe he deserved it. _The violin answered gloomily, the minor chord adding to it's sorrowful sound.

_No. He really didn't. _Hermione admitted. _He really didn't._


	9. Chapter 9

***Tenatively waves* Hello there... it's certainly been a while, hasn't it? Well now I'm back. Bit confusing how I fell off the face of the earth and then pop up with this awkward little chappie. But I hope you aren't too cross. I have a nice bit of revelation coming up soon. And you have to love manifestation between romantically inclined people. It's always such a pleasant thing. **

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><p>Hermione and Draco saw much of each other after that, although neither of them planned it. Professor McGonagall had seemingly disappeared, and all her classes had to be distributed to whichever teachers had a spare moment to lead it, but this mostly led to the combination of many classes and double hours for underclassmen. While Draco found it quite exciting to see her as often as he did, Hermione still felt a pang of guilt remembering the last words she spoke to him, not knowing her apology had been heard by the person who needed it. So while she avoided looking at him, he had the pleasure of staring quite openly at her. During one of their newly combined classes, Flitwick asked the dreaming young man a question he didn't hear. When he didn't know what to say, he shrugged and pointed at the bushy haired young woman near the front, saying;<p>

"Why don't you ask Hermione? She's dying to tell you."

Her hand descended from the sky and she looked back at him with a furious blush creeping up her neck and peeping onto her cheeks like posies seeing the sun. He smirked and nodded, so she turned around and answered the question, but she didn't raise her hand all through the rest of the lecture.

News of McGonagall's absence had swept through the school, with gossipy girls adding their own details every time the story was told. Knowing a bit of every version, Hermione pieced together a plausible tale, but she and Harry determined to know more. During a free period, the pair of them walked up to Dumbledore's office to ask after their teacher.

"McGonagall is indisposed at the moment. Family issues, I believe." The wise old headmaster answered their rapid questions. He would offer no more on the subject.

"I don't think I can take much more of these combined classes. There are too many students, not enough individual attention." Hermione complained to Harry in the library after.

"Ron and I like it just fine. We learn enough," laughed Harry. "You may be the only person who isn't thrilled by the lack of attention."

Nonplussed, Hermione sat back in alarm. "Not everyone is as indolent as you and Ron! Some people around here still care about their education."

Draco suddenly came from around the corner, a finger raised as he interjected. "May I say something?"

Harry quirked an eyebrow but said nothing.

"Malfoy?" Hermione queried. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to agree with you. I am hoping we get our nice, small classes back."

Hermione smiled triumphantly. "See Harry? Even Draco likes school well enough to hope for better circumstances."

"Fine, but when did you two start talking?"

The two in question stared at each other. And both answered at once.

"We didn't… he just…"

"Sorry chum, but we've been making passionate love for ages…"

"Draco!"

"I couldn't resist."

"It's not hard to hold your tongue."

"Ironic, considering you haven't figured that out yet."

"I never say such horrid things." Hermione exclaimed.

"You're right, you say boring things."

Harry balked at their banter, scooting his chair away from the verbal mess. While they carried on, he simply got out of his chair and crept away, determined to tell Ron their friend was mental.

Once Hermione noticed his absence, she stopped bickering with Malfoy. Sitting back in her chair, and Draco sitting opposite her, she sighed and began to talk again, still put out by the sudden departure.

"We frightened him off." She muttered.

"I like that you aren't blaming me alone," Draco smirked. "Very inclusive of yourself."

"There's no point in arguing with you. I am just sorry Harry had to see that. He won't understand." Hermione gulped, and waited for the question her blonde companion would most certainly ask.

"Understand what, exactly? It seemed to be a rather straight forward argument."

"Do you really want to be friends?" Hermione inquired. "Because if you absolutely must, then I suppose I don't have a choice…"

He didn't let her finish. "More than anything, Hermione. I'm willing to forget years of hatred if you are. Even if you aren't, you are right in saying you don't have a choice. I would never make it easy on you."

She smiled back at him. "But even if we do decide to be friends, no one else will like it much."

Draco shrugged. "I pity them. I possibly have the best aim in this entire school."

"You deal with conflict horribly." Laughed Hermione.

"And you never resolve things. You just jump into distractions." He teased.

"I am sorry about what I said. I just wanted to be nasty to you, and it's inexcusable. I hope you don't have any hard feelings." She answered honestly.

"I don't believe I do. I still think being mates is a good idea."

"I'm glad. You aren't really wicked, after all. And you remind me of someone. Perhaps you can be as nice as they." She mused.

"And they are?"

"Just a friend." Hermione answered him smugly, while he stared at her with a pleased look on his face. "A person very special to me."

"Lucky fellow," Draco mumbled. "It would be such an honor to be called your friend."

"Then a friend you shall be, Draco." She extended her hand for him to shake.

He took it and smiled at her. "Hermione, friend."

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><p><strong>That's the beginning of a new chapter for us! And stuff will follow!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Once again, I'm back in bad time. Forgive me, my loves, but also enjoy what you read here. And review very generously. I don't care of its two letters or half a word, but just one, review for every lovely reader would be much appretiated. Also, just like the Doctor, I lie. Rule number one. I promised you something and you may not like how I fullfilled it. **

News that has no place among the general thoughts of man generally has a way of spreading faster than intended. The first time Draco approached Hermione in the hall and borrowed one of her quills, Lavender and Parvati watched from the corner until both had separated and gone their separate ways. Then Pavati told Padma who told Katie and Melissa who informed Pansy because the Slytherin girl eavesdropped. Pansy told Daphne and Astoria, who both told as many people as they could manage in their Transfiguration class. At that point, when Ginny heard from Neville who overheard Sylvester Peabody and Peter Sloane discussing it, the trail of its arrival had been completely lost in the sea of people who had already discussed it.

"So I heard that Draco accosted you in the hall and stole all of your quills." Ginny plopped onto the sofa where Hermione had been studying peacefully, blissfully unaware that her name had been whispered numerous times as the center of gossip. The red head patted her friends arm and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly.

"He did no such thing!" Hermione laughed. "People clearly can't be trusted to know anything, even if they see it with their own eyes."

"Then how did he end up with one of your quills? I saw him using it in Potions, the cheeky boy, your initials right at the base of the feathers." Ginny questioned.

Hermione turned a page leisurely and sighed. "He just asked to borrow it."

"And you let him? What kind of spell did he use?" Ginny paled a bit, but color rushed back into her face as she thought of the excitement. "Oh, did he threaten you?"

"No." Hermione corrected gently. "He just said please."

"How rude. Or not, I suppose." Ginny leaned into the couch and pondered the ideas swirling in her head, when she finally knew the perfect person to ask. "I have to go. Library, study… books."

Hermione nodded in acknowledgement and Ginny dashed out the door, determined to find Blaise.

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><p>"Oi, he wouldn't say anything?" Ginny gasped, appalled at the lack of information.<p>

Blaise nodded. "He just said they were amiable. Very casual like."

"Those two are so infuriating…" Ginny pounded the table in their private study room, thinking about the consequences of their interaction.

Blaise's mind was more carnally involved. "Since I told you everything you asked for, do I get to kiss you now?"

"Oh, yes of course." Ginny leaned in and gave him a pack before thinking out loud; "If they become friends, does that make them the bigger scandal?"

Blaise groaned and leaned back into his chair. "Yes, I think it does."

"Is house unity a possibility at this point, do you think? I mean, you and I, Draco and Hermione… what could happen next?"

"Daphne and Harry?" Blaise suggested nonchalantly.

"Oh god no! Something's are too improbable, but maybe Neville." Ginny mused. "Or perhaps Dean."

"Didn't you date Dean?" Blaise's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Snogged. We didn't date really, we just snogged." Ginny didn't look perturbed.

"Kind of like us?" Grumbled Blaise.

"Nothing like us, love. He wasn't nearly so interesting or attractive." She suddenly turned the full force of her smile on him and came over to sit on his lap. Blaise, feeling slightly appeased and definitely manlier, welcomed her gladly. "Do I get to kiss you now?"

Blaise smirked and responded in a high voice mocking hers "Oh, yes of course."

"Prat." Ginny mumbled, pressing her lips against the nape of his neck.

"Gorgeous." Blaise responded, running a hand down her thigh.

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><p>"Everyone seems to think I've molested you." Draco whispered across the table in the library they were sharing. The room hummed with the whispers of observers, and the two pretended not to notice as they went about their business.<p>

"You have. You basically forced yourself on me." Hermione muttered, staring him directly in the eye.

"I object! No physical overtures were directly made. I can't help it if my body speaks for itself."

"How alarming! You think we're friends now because of your body?" Hermione sniffed and leaned back, breaking their eye contact. "Such vanity does not add to one's appearance, it merely detracts."

"And yet you look me over just to prove to yourself you aren't interested. You don't have to be now, but I should warn you it's compulsory for any relationship beyond acquaintance."

"You said we were friends!" Hermione laughed awkwardly.

"Then it seems you must have an appreciation for what is before you. You're welcome." Draco leaned back in his chair very comfortably.

"Alright, fine. But it has to go both ways. Are you appreciative of what sits in front of you?" Hermione leaned back into the table to say this, and Draco mirrored her, placing his face merely inches from hers.

"Easily. You may be the most attractive girl named Hermione in the room." Draco mocked.

"And as I compare to other girls?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"You are too gorgeous to begin with comparison."

"You're too complimentary." Hermione pushed back from the table, breaking their closeness once again. "I hardly know when you're being sincere."

"Can't a natural complement-er be sincere?" He protested. "Can't my words mean as much as anyone else's?"

She smiled at him and began to pack up her books. "Nobody else has your reputation to overcome."

"Can't you just accept them as nice words to hear?" He took her hand and stopped her movement for a second, and he could feel her heartbeat in her wrist.

She hadn't wanted to show that she was flustered and excited by his lavish words. Throwing up a wall of wit for protection, she had decided to back away from him, just so he wouldn't see this strange effect he had on her. But once he grabbed her wrist and he could feel her rapidly beating heart pouring blood through her body and causing a blush to raise low on her cheeks, she knew she was lost. Her pupils dilated and her breath was stolen by the little god with the arrows as she danced around her head with glee.

"No." Hermione answered him his question. "I can't. Because they aren't real."

"Hermione." Draco queried quietly, knowing how he felt but suddenly aware of her.

"No, Draco."

Then the small hand slipped out of the larger one and wrapped itself tightly around the book bag for protection. He watched it go with some discontent, before he suddenly realized there was a more forward approach to their situation.

"Friends?" Draco asked cautiously.

"Of course." Hermione ducked her head. "I have to meet someone now. Good bye."

Which was, of course, when Draco realized he and his violin had a date with the loveliest flute player in Hogwarts. So he loitered casually until she was out of side before he dashed back to the dungeons to grab his coat and instrument and meet his girl.

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><p>REVIEW.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**I only ask that you enjoy and review. Seriously, you are free to continue your life exactly how you want to, but I first ask that you review. And maybe have a good day and pleasant life, but only if you're up to it. Just, review for me, okay?**

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><p>Friendship blossomed between the two people who never expected it, while romance seemed to spring where it was even less desired. Hermione's intellectual friend had begun asking to see her again and wanting to reveal himself, but she pushed him away.<p>

_I have too much going on right now. _She trilled on her flute. _I don't think I could handle it right now. _

The violin played its sweet notes back at her, insisting. _Do you think my identity would be such a shock to you that you that you couldn't go forward with your life comfortably? It's not like I would expect anything from you after we met, although I would be sorry if you turned me away._

_It's not that! _Hermione defended, trying to keep some of her honor intact. _I'm just worried we won't be compatible… And I don't know how I would explain… _

But Hermione saw she was in a hole. No matter her words or her decisions, the answer would be obvious. She should just tell him and get it over with, so he wouldn't think worse of her in the end. Although she doubted he would be all too thrilled with her honesty in the moment.

_There's someone. _She played plainly. _Things are going really well with him, and I don't want to confuse the two of you by leading you on. But you… you don't think of me romantically do you?_

The violin didn't respond for some time. As Hermione waited patiently, and nervously, she thought she heard a whoop in the forest. Someone might be coming and if they compromised her secret, she didn't know what she'd do. Before she could raise her concerns, the violin played up at her, its tempo increased and its tune more of a jig.

_I won't interfere with you and your friend. Would you like to take a break for a while and figure out where you stand with us?_

Hermione couldn't believe how charitable and kind and understanding and perfect her violin-playing friend could be! And his song sounded so happy, she knew he was sincere because the music never lied.

_Would you mind that so much? I love talking to you, but I am worried about hurting you too. _

_I understand completely. I must confess there is someone in my life as well I should very much like to focus my attentions. I simply didn't want to hurt you. _The notes danced in the air and hung on the breeze like leaves and Hermione laughed before responding.

_How about we take a break for a month, and when we meet again, we'll discuss how things should be. _She offered.

The violin played back almost instantly. _Better idea; let's meet in the library, face to face, in a month, so we can be perfectly clear. _

Hermione hesitated, but tried to answer quickly. _Agreed. I will see you in a month. _

_I look forward to it._

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><p>A feeling of easiness followed Hermione wherever she went now, blissfully unattached and free from any entanglements, she willingly set about understanding her life. The formerly confusing situation, nothing more than a pile of distant memories now, could never possibly hurt her again. So when Draco asked if she wanted to go to the RavenclawHufflepuff match with him, Hermione said yes very casually and felt no guilt whatsoever. While she wondered at his wanting to bring her out in such a public place, she didn't see why she shouldn't go along and find out. And while she was at it, maybe she'd finally try the pumpkin-caramel popcorn they sold in Concessions. If Ron and Harry could practically drink it, she could certainly stand a bite.

"You look like you're about to pass out." Draco noted, peering at her disgusted expression. "Did the popcorn not agree with you?"

Hermione swallowed regretfully, fearing what the yucky mixture would do to her stomach. "I don't understand how you even remotely enjoy it!"

Shoving another handful in his mouth, Draco just shrugged. "It must be a guy thing."

"Must be." She looked forward at the game and tried to understand what was happening. Her lapse in focus had caused her to miss a few plays, and now she needed to catch up. Ernie had the ball; a brunette beater waved her stick around menacingly to anyone who came near him. The Ravenclaw seeker had seen the Snitch briefly, but lost track of it once the Hufflepuff seeker flew in her face.

"You aren't horribly chatty today, Miss Granger." Draco remarked. "I had no idea you liked Quidditch so much."

"I don't really. I have to pay a lot of attention to keep up," responded Hermione. "I like being at the games and everything, but the sport is too much for me."

They were both acutely aware that everyone around them discussed nothing but their very presence. Being together in public caused more speculation than it was worth, but neither one particularly found it offensive to walk among whispers and gossip. The rumors that spread throughout the school had turned them into spirits or ghosts, who didn't actually have a real identity to anyone but those to whom they were revealed. Since truth didn't matter very much in the Hogwarts Gossip Mill, Hermione and Draco regularly learned things about their relationship they hadn't known before.

"Did you know," Draco asked one evening in the library. "That you and I actually started dating last year, but you got pregnant over the summer and I didn't start talking to you again until recently."

Hermione nodded. "Did you hear our baby's name was Harpo? You apparently have a grandfather with that name who also happened to be a bastard."

"I beat you into submission. That's why you have that bruise on your arm." Draco pointed at the place Harry had accidentally run into her with his books. "And you won't tell anyone about it because I might kill your cat."

"Oh I heard it was the other way around. I beat you into a pulp so you'll go out with me." Hermione smirked.

"You're beautiful. I wouldn't need much beating."

Hermione didn't miss a beat, but stared him right in the eye. "Of course not, but that isn't what the rumors say. You can't stray from the game, Malfoy."

"I was improvising. Suppose I inject my rumors into the system? It would make things more accurate at least."

"But not nearly as fun. You invented this activity, you know. I'm just sticking to the rules." Hermione turned back to the book sin front of her, pulling out her quill and underlining a passage she had been reading on the side. "Also, you aren't allowed to call me beautiful."

Draco laughed. "And why not? I thoroughly enjoy telling the truth every so often."

Tucking the feather into the crevice of her book, she closed it gently and stroked the cover. "We've talked about it. You are too insincere with everyone and I don't want to be included in it. Being friends with me is going to be different from your being friends with anyone else, because I don't want a fake friend."

"You think I'm fake with you?" Draco exclaimed dramatically. "I wouldn't waste my time being unreal after working so hard to make you my friend. I wouldn't even have bothered."

"The way you speak doesn't reflect that." She shot back.

"Old habits die hard." Draco shrugged. "I always thought it was better to make people feel good about themselves."

"Interesting. If by make people feel good about themselves you meant make girls feel less guilty about sleeping with you." Hermione snapped. "I'm more than aware of your reputation."

"If you are so in tune with my reputation, you might want to figure out who told you about it. Maybe the very people we were mocking earlier told you something about that." Growled Draco, in a way so menacing, Hermione briefly considered backing down.

"Then please straighten out the record. Right now. I'll believe you." She conceded.

Taken aback, Draco peered at her. "Really?"

"Yeh, really. Talk away."

"Oh. Well, I do flatter girls the most because I happen to like girls a lot, just as a species in general. Um… to be honest, I've… slept with… four." He blushed and looked down. "No, three. The other one was just… you know."

"Syphilis?"

"What?"

"Do you have Syphi-"

"No!" Draco threw his hands at her, as if he could somehow through the question back. "Nothing! I have nothing, I'm fine."

She nodded, and the somberly asked; "You're just a sex addict then."

"What?! No! I'm a bloke and the girls just… No!"

He noticed then that Hermione was looking down at the table, a tiny little smile creeping out from her mask. Even though his blush wouldn't disappear, he leaned back; satisfied that she only intended to instigate some kind of frustrated response. He wouldn't fall for it.

"Well, that's fine then. Anything else you want to add?" She fiddled with her fingers under the table. "Any last remarks."

He realized at that moment that she knew him to well, even for their brief acquaintanceship. Even if he didn't want her to say the right thing that would invariably fluster him further, she would find a way to say it. "I don't know that I'm the insincere, unfeeling person that you say I am anymore. I have this friend now that sort of cured me of that. Someone that made me say what I really thought and really wanted to say, instead of all that flattery." He cleared his throat, realizing how hokey he must be sounding to her right now. This probably sounded worse than anything he ever said intentionally. "And I do want to make our friendship… different."

"And I believe you." Hermione looked him in the eye. "That was truth and I am more than content with it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have plans."

"What plans?" Draco grabbed her wrist as she stood up, leaning towards her in anticipation.

She stared, nonplussed, at the contact between them before answering. "Ginny and I were going to study together."

"We're already studying together. Why would you go study with someone else just to study again?"

Hermione guffawed. "Oh, you think I study for myself? A more accurate word would be tutoring, and I really hope you enjoyed your session. Please schedule an appointment with me if you need more help." She kept chuckling. "I'll see you later. I have another tutoring session now."

As she walked out of the library, he called after her; "Ha ha, Granger, you're very clever."

But both had contact on their minds. Both, for some reason, wanted more. If he wasn't such a controlled person, Draco thought he would run after her now just to touch her skin again.

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><p><strong>REVIEW.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is mostly an overview of the opinions of others around. I took a bit of creative lisence in someplaces because it was more tragic, so I hope you don't mind. Some things come to fruition in this long-awaited chapter, but most things don't. What rubbish. You'll just have to hang around some more. **

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><p>"A game of favorites?" Hermione raised her eye brows, incredulity all over her face. "That sounds childish."<p>

"Well, if you want, we can do this the adult way and talk for hours and hours about meaningless things while extracting little bits of information through bush-beating and clever listening. Or, if you fancy straight forward discussions you could always just play the favorites game." Draco smirked, his fingers tracing patterns on the table. "Not hard stuff, you know. Just common sense."

"Alright, let's start then." They sat quietly before Hermione pointed out; "You have to start. It's your idea."

"Right. Favorite author."

"Easy. Bathilda Bagshot. Or no, Steinbeck." Hermione bit her lip. "Maybe Tolstoy."

"Oscar Wilde for me." Draco grinned.

"The Pleasure King; I can see that coming from you." Hermione scoffed. "What is your favorite color?"

"That is a horrible question, but purple is my answer. Yours is?"

"Blue. Like the sky."

"Like your eyes… Oh, no your eyes are brown, like dirt." Draco mocked.

"Hey!"

"Next question; Favorite song." Draco asked, forwarding the conversation.

"Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is definately my favorite. What is yours?" Hermione grinned.

"You pretentious, classical person… Well, I don't really have a favorite song now that I think about it, but Witches and Brooms by the Floating Goblins is easily the best song I ever heard."

"How obscure…" Hermione laughed, and the game continued.

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><p>Ron Weasley really wanted to punch Draco Malfoy, and Harry couldn't talk him out it. All he knew was a deep, rolling anger toward the blonde headed fellow, who in a matter of days, had undone everything Ron had been working on for years. To be honest, it had only been a few months, but seeing as Ron and she had been friends longer, that time had to count as well. While Draco took Hermione off on gallivanting adventures and romantic study dates, Ron fumed in the Gryffindor Commons and tried to get people to commiserate with him. Of course, no one particularly cared to get involved.<p>

"Aren't you maddened by the nerve of that ferret?" Ron exclaimed. "Taking our Mione away without asking?"

"You say that as if she doesn't have a choice in the matter." Harry scoffed at Ron's red face. "She's a human being you know, and capable of rational thought."

"Women can sometimes be easily led astray." Ron grumbled back. "And he's a… a… a lead-astray-er if ever I saw one!"

Ginny, who'd had enough of Ron's ridiculous behavior, added; "If you're wondering why she doesn't prefer you Ron, you might want to consider your demeaning way of speaking about her. She isn't a submissive creature you know."

Sean, who spent most of his time in one of the love seats by the fireplace, quipped; "Why don't you pursue a girl who actually likes you, Ronnikins!"

A series of kissy face noises followed from various parts of the room, and Ron blushed again. "I don't like Lavender anymore, guys. Stop bringing her up."

"She still likes you!" Someone hollered from a corner of the room.

"Anyway," Ron turned back to Harry. "I'm just worried about her. First she goes disappearing on us for hours a day, and then she starts hanging out with that prat, Malfoy? It's suspicious, don't you think?"

"I understand your skepticism, but it isn't a criminal offence to meet someone in secret for a while." Harry said.

"Well it's a crime to abandon your friends for jerks." Ron scuffed his foot against the floor while Harry raised an eyebrow.

"I don't think that's a crime either." He said, but he sounded more melancholy than before.

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><p>"How was your trip, Professor?" Dumbledore asked at McGonagall enter his study through the floo.<p>

"Eventful, Albus, as I expected. Thank you for opening the floo for me. It would have been so inconvenient to use a portkey and walk." She dusted off her robes and settled herself. "Well, I hope you haven't been too inconvenienced by my absence."

"Not at all, Minerva." Dumbledore shook his head. "We can always make allowances for our devoted teachers. How is your sister-in-law?"

"She acts almost as dead as her husband. She'll get some life back in her eventually, but I fear she'll never be the same. Robert meant so much to her." Mrs. McGonagall took off her glasses and wiped them on her robe. "I wish I could have stayed with her longer."

"I offered you more time…"

"Oh no, it's not that. You've been ever so kind, Albus. Staying with my family is hard though, especially now that they're all passing on and I'm still living, and worse yet living so queerly. None of my mother's side still associates with my father's side of the family anymore."

"I wish I could sympathize, but I've never experienced such a life outside of the wizard world. How are you, after your brother's passing?"

"I'm alright. He died for a cause, but his wife doesn't know that." She looked pensively out the window. "He never told her he was a wizard."

"You seem very distraught now. I'm sorry I brought up such terrible memories for you." Dumbledore held out a little bowl of candy. "Would you like a licorice bite?"

She took one gratefully. "Thank you. They aren't so terrible, but tell me the news of the school. What have I missed?"

While the Headmaster talked of classes and teachers and tutoring schedules, Minerva listened attentively and absent-mindedly ate more and more candy until her tongue turned a dark red. Then, feeling as if some lighthearted information would do the old witch good, Dumbledore turned his attention on more trivial matters.

"Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy have been seen cavorting together." He mentioned.

"Pardon?" Professor McGonagall almost dropped her candy. "I'm sorry Albus, I was paying attention. My eyes just drifted…"

"I'm perfectly serious. They seem to have struck up a friendship in the past few weeks." Albus chuckled, thinking of the time he ran into them studying together in a fairly intimate way. "No one is more surprised than I, although I daresay they are the most surprised of us all."

McGonagall shook her head, though a smile played on her lips. "The things that can happen when you leave for a few days. What a miracle!"

"I must agree. Perhaps Miss Weasley and her Slytherin paramour will take this time to come clean about their relationship."

"How did you discover that secret as well?" Minerva asked, smirking at the smug looking professor.

"My dear Minerva, there is little that goes on in these walls that I do not know about."

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><p>When the GryffindorSlytherin match came around on a foggy, Wednesday afternoon, Hermione opted out of the event, since she didn't know who she'd root for without offending another. Draco urged her to go, promising that she could support her house with her entire being as long as she didn't mind watching them loose devastatingly.

"I think I'll just wait in the library and read." She smiled. "Come find me when it ends and tell me how marvelous you think you are."

"How marvelous I AM." Draco corrected.

"Oh, of course."

When Luna Lovegood stumbled across her path later, Hermione nearly jumped. So eagerly had she been awaiting Draco, she felt completely flustered at the sight of someone else.

"I'm sorry to frighten you. I didn't notice you sitting there." Luna apologized. Hermione didn't wonder that the girl couldn't see. She was wearing those ridiculous pink glasses again.

"Oh, I was just anxious already. How is the game going?"

"Gryffindor had the lead in points, but Draco looked ready to grab the snitch. Harry seems rather distracted." Luna sat in one of the seats opposite Hermione. When the brunette witch looked about to protest, Luna smiled. "I'll leave before he gets here."

Deciding not to pursue the topic of how she knew about the waiting, Hermione asked what Luna happened to be doing in the library instead of at the game.

"Same as I you, I suspect." Luna smiled coyly. "Sometimes the best time to meet a secret lover is when the school is preoccupied with a game."

Mentally laughing at the idea of Luna having a secret lover, Hermione smiled. "And who are you meeting, might I ask?"

"He's a secret." Luna responded, as if that was all the response needed to quench excitement.

"Oh, yes, naturally." Hermione conceded, mock seriousness.

"You and Draco certainly make a nice pair."

Hermione nearly spat. "Excuse me?"

"You two make nice friends. You seem to get along well enough. Did you not know you two were friends? Sometimes I don't know people are my friend. They'll be mean and then nice and I hardly know where they stand…"

"I knew Draco and I were friends. I thought you meant something else."

Luna smiled knowingly. "Oh, well I knew you weren't at that stage yet."

"Yet? As in you expect it soon?" Hermione asked.

"Sometimes I stand behind the bookshelves and listen to your conversations." She answered, by way of an explanation.

"That's weird…"

"I know. I stopped doing it when I realized it was eavesdropping. My father always told me never to spy on people like that."

"Sage advice." Hermione commented. "What makes you think…"

"Oh, I have to be going. I have a secret lover to meet. I think I do, anyway. It's so hard to remember now." Then the girl with the strange glasses stood up and walked away, leaving Hermione with a nagging sensation that more people were aware of her love life than even she was, and that something absolutely must be done about it.

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><p><strong>REVIEW.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello Darling Readers. Another chapter, this one of some considerable length. At least, it's longer than most previous chapters. All the same, I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>When Draco, soaking wet and slightly muddy, plopped into the chair Luna had previously been occupying, Hermione couldn't help her cry of outrage.<p>

"You're filthy! That chair!" She exclaimed, looking horrified.

"I'm a wizard! I can clean it in seconds. Chill." He smirked at her. "I am very pleased to say Slytherin won this match, thanks to my superior seeking skills. Your wonder boy will need consoling later."

"Then I think I'll stay away from the Gryffindor Common Room for a while longer." Hermione noted. "The atmosphere will be more than a little depressing."

"If celebration is what you want, then maybe you should attend the Slytherin party with me. It will be, in a word, hip."

Hermione shook her head. "Oh no, I've heard rumors about the Slytherin Championship parties. I'd much prefer a book."

"I wish I could say the rumors weren't true, but I've heard them too." He shrugged apologetically. "It's such a wild time, everyone's fantasies come true and there is no room left for the imagination of lies."

"I hope that wasn't intended to entice me into attending, because it had quite the opposite effect."

Draco settled back into the plush chair, and laced his hands together over his chest. "Alright. We can just sit here I suppose. I always liked watching you read."

Hermione said nothing, but focused back on her book, hoping instead of believing he was serious about a quiet night without his peers. As the minutes stretched out, she realized she had been reading the same sentence over and over again as her mind continually drifted to thoughts of the wild party she might attend with Draco by her side. She happened to glance up and see Draco staring at her intently, a knowing smile slowing beginning to grace his features. She looked back down at her book and considered the worst that could happen. He wouldn't make her stay if she was unhappy would he? Even if he tried, she could very easily manage to slip away with a few clever hexes. What was the harm in seeing things herself?

"Alright, fine." She put the book down on her lap. "I'll accompany you to your party. But if I want to leave, you can't try and stop me, Draco."

"The conditions are acceptable." Draco jumped up and pulled his wand out of his pocket, cleaning the chair up instantly. "Do you want to change or anything before we head out?"

"No, but I imagine you'd want to do something about your appearance." Hermione scoffed, eyeing him from top to bottom.

"I'd have to go through my common room to do that. Besides that, women find the filthy, conquering hero somewhat attractive."

"You would know I suppose."

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><p>Harry expected to see Hermione enter the Common Room any minute, but she never appeared. The defeat, shameful and excruciating, had been awful enough, but not having one of his best friends there to console him was much worse.<p>

Yet his feelings, as he began to realize where she was, were switching from friendly to paternal.

"Yeh, I saw them walkin' towards the dungeons just a minute ago. Where's her house pride and decency?" Dean bemoaned, kicking the ground. "She's abandoned us."

McLaggen, who had been a fairly heroic figure on the Quidditch field and hadn't quite quit his ego ride, raised his nose in the air. "I'd be ashamed to be seen with a girl who didn't respect her house. I'm surprised Harry puts up with her."

Someone chorused an agreement from across the melancholy room, but Harry said nothing.

"She hasn't stopped hanging out with him in two weeks. It's like she wants to be Slytherin." Lavender complained. "Going to their parties and dating their worst, most infamous member."

"I heard she screwed Blaise Zabini." Someone exclaimed.

Ginny, who had just entered the room, laughed. "I actually know that's a lie, but keep trying."

"She's still a slag."

"ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY STOP IT." Harry roared, jumping up off the couch. "If you all weren't such desperate gossips and liars, you'd actually know what's going on and wouldn't have to resort to such petty conversation."

"Do you know what she's up to then?" Cormac prodded.

"As a matter of fact, I do, because she's my best friend. But it isn't any of your business and I'd like to ask you to bugger off about it." Harry grabbed his jacket off the sofa (He'd been using it in lieu of a pillow since all the pillows were being used for a first years pillow fort in the corner of the room.) and charged for the door. In the wake of his outburst, everyone was quiet, but Ginny grabbed his arm and quietly asked where he was going.

"To save her from herself." He muttered. Then he flew out the door.

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><p>The Slytherin common room had been transformed into a nightclub. Hermione had never actually been in it, but she didn't think it could possibly look this glamorous all the time. An array of lights flashed about the room as someone's wand projected loud, thumping music that Hermione couldn't understand. Kegs of Butterbeer lined one wall and in the center clearing of the room, at least thirty people were dancing and enjoying themselves immensely. From her vantage point on top of the stairs, Hermione could very easily see two couples making out on a sofa, a gaggle of first, second and third years watching from the hallway that led to their dorms, and a small but agile person making their way through the crowd with two bottles slung over his back.<p>

"Good old Albie. He always finds a way to get the hard liquor in here." Draco chuckled warmly.

Looking over at him in the green, pulsing light, Hermione noticed how generally at ease he seemed, staring down into his kind of people. It was a lovely sight to see him so relaxed and excited, but she didn't get to enjoy it for long, because he stepped into the view of the party below and held up his arms in triumph. The room went wild with sound, cheers echoing off the stone and glass of the structure. As Draco descended the steps, Hermione found herself at a loss of what to do, and Draco noticed it very acutely. He grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him, down into the throng.

And much to her relief, he didn't let her go. He gave hi-fives and talked and smirked and shook hands with tons of people without ever breaking his hold on her. People smiled at her, but no one stayed to chat, so she just tried to stay focused on whatever Draco was doing and somehow stay involved. Finally deciding his thirst was overpowering, he pulled out of the throng that had begun to dance again and pulled her out with him.

"What do you think of the festivities of my people?" He asked suggestively, his eyebrows dancing.

"Uproarious. Do they engage in this sort of activity often?"

"Any excuse to have a wild party is a good one. Have you ever heard of Chaos Never Dies Day?" He queried.

She shook her head no.

"Neither has anyone but us, although it is a legitimate American holiday. Good time for a party." He offered her the cup of Butterbeer he had been pouring and began on another. "And, it's the only time rival house members can sneak in and see our magnificent common room."

"I would be interested in a tour, if you don't mind extensive bragging." Hermione answered coyly. "I've only ever read about this room from Hogwarts: A History."

Carrying their green, plastic cups Draco led Hermione around the common room, pointing out the many edifices and quirks in the architecture. She looked out the windows and into the deep, green waters of the lake and shivered. It was eerie, being down here and looking at fish swim by and lake grass drift in front of her eyes so clearly. "Don't you ever worry about the pressure of the water breaking the glass and flooding the room?"

"I hadn't even considered it until now. But I would expect the spells to be enough fortification against such a calamity." He pressed his lips together and looked back the swinging party. She looked back as well and saw girls grinding and boys holding their hips. It seemed revolting.

"You can go if you want. I'm very content just to look around." She said. "Parties aren't really my strong point anyway. You wouldn't enjoy dancing with me."

He looked relieved, but Hermione could tell he was beginning to regret bringing her. She understood, and decided to slip away while he was gone.

She watched him enter the throng of people and watched three or four girls start dancing around him, each one vying for his attention. He seemed casual enough, but eventually a blonde one, in a scandalously short skirt and seductively slung tie got him to her self, and they danced even as Hermione looked away, her chest feeling heavy.

Taking her opportunity to escape, she started strolling along the side of the room very casually, hoping he wouldn't notice her intended departure until it was too late. As she crept on the outskirts, she noticed many deviations from the party. She came across a couple snogging so passionately they could barely keep standing as they leaned inside an alcove. Two girls were groping and kissing each other as well, and Hermione hurried past that, not too eager to stay and watch their proceedings. A couple of groups were playing drinking games and strip poker had advanced far beyond what Hermione's conservative sensibilities allowed her to see. She made quick work of the stairs and was about to exit when somebody grabbed her hand and pulled her into a dark corner of the entry hall.

"Hermione!"

"Oh lord, I don't know who you are but I will… Harry?"

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness quickly, as the minimal light that pulsed throughout the room filtered in gradually. "I came to get you. You aren't supposed to be here."

Feeling indignant, Hermione protested. "I don't need you to come get me Harry. I'm perfectly fine without your help."

"I don't have a high opinion of Draco, much less the Slytherin House." He grumbled.

"How did you even get in here?" Hermione demanded, knowing the complicated procedure since Draco had just showed her.

"Ginny knew, for some reason, the sneak. Glad she did though. But it looks to me like you were leaving anyway." He looked at the green cup in her hand with distaste and Hermione felt instantly defensive.

"No. I wasn't leaving; I just wanted a better view of the room. In Hogwarts: A History, Ms. Bagshot describes the entrance as a marvel of architecture and I wanted to see it from a different angle." She tipped her chin into the air. "I'm having a wonderful time, and I don't want to leave."

"House members aren't supposed to mingle in other house's common rooms." Harry hissed.

"Oh, nobody cares about that rule. What about house unity and friendship? It's all very important to the inner social relations of the school to have people mingling outside of their defined boundaries…"

"Fine, you don't have to explain yourself to me. I'm going to stay though, just in case…"

Feeling her nervous energy welling up inside, Hermione imagined what would happen if the Slytherins found Boy Wonder sitting in their midst. They had been casual enough with her, but only because Draco had been showing her favor. If she started bring her people along as well, she didn't know how the people would respond.

"Please, just go, Harry. I'll be back soon okay? I can handle myself." As the music pounded around her Hermione started to twitch her shoulders. "I really like this song."

Never having seen her act like this, Harry didn't see that he had any other options but to let her stay. "You have to be back before midnight though. Just tell everyone you were doing Prefect rounds with Malfoy and patrolling."

"Thanks. I'll be back well before midnight. I owe you, dearly."

Harry didn't respond, but he peeked around the corner and looked at the oblivious people dancing below. "Draco seems to be having a good time."

Hermione scoffed. "His enjoyment isn't contingent on mine…" She looked as well, but realized that his happiness did seem to rely on somebody. With his lips pressed firmly against that skimpy blonde's lips, she realized her stubbornness.

"I kind of thought you guys were dating." Harry murmured.

"No." Hermione said quietly. "We're just friends. Actually think I'm leaving now."

Harry nodded quietly and followed her out, looking back grimly at Draco, who had pulled away from the girl and started looking around the room in a panic. He pushed her away and said something harshly. The girl just winked saucily and walked away to another person, while Draco ran his hands through his hair and wiped his lips roughly.

Seeing all of this, Harry wondered how much he wanted his friend back. Then he decided what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

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><p><strong>REVIEW. Seriously. Do it.<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Another chapter. It's very crucial to the story to have this particular piece so well displayed, because I believe it gives a particular insight into their budding relationship and the feelings they have for one another. I could go on, dippy-dappy, without including how they see each other in crisis time, but I liked the idea of seeing how they handle confrontation like no one else. Note: I didn't use any of those cliche scenes where Draco runs after her and she screams at him and pushes him away. I think Hermione has a cruel, passive-aggressive side that comes out when she feels directly insulted. Like when she was mad at Ron for kissing Lavender, she didn't fly in his face or yell at him with any accusations. She just sent a flock of magic birds at him. Brilliant way to handle conflict. Anyway, she doesn't have any birds, because she's familiar with this situation. She watched it happen to her with Ron already, she is feeling a repeat play of the same pain and she doesn't know why she has to have it like this. **

**^^^That's all very important explanation. If you don't read it, I'll assume you're a muggle and an orc and I will never talk to you again.^^^**

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><p>Hermione didn't respond to any of Draco's queries for several hours. He sent owl after owl, message after message, but everything came back void and the owls had no response to give him. Meanwhile, Hermione stared at a pile of notes on her desk as she shooed the latest owl, a dusty gray creature with beady eyes and unkempt appearance, out the window.<p>

_I'm afraid I must have missed you when you left. So sorry about that, but I hope you enjoyed your glimpse into the life of a Slytherin. –D_

_Perhaps my first message went astray. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I was to miss you. I hope you'll respond soon. –D_

_You're usually very quick to answer me, particularly when something is on your mind, as something clearly is now. Do you want to talk? –D_

_I can explain, as I think I figured it out. Did you see Sylvia and me? I swear I didn't know it was her and I was very offended by her advances. She's a right slag, that one. Please respond. –D_

_If you intend to be so unwilling to talk about it, I won't pressure you. However, it might alleviate some of your cruel thoughts towards me if we discussed this like rational people. –D_

Finally feeling ready to say something, Hermione sent him a brief note with Lavender's owl and then headed off to the library.

_Sorry I couldn't respond earlier. You'll know where to find me. –H_

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><p>He did know where to find her, and in a matter of minutes he sat across from her at a study table in the center of the room. The warm glow of a crackling fire place filled the room with a flickering red light, each table lamp filling the darker spaces with extra light. Sitting alone, Hermione had tried to appear perfectly content with her book and let no one see how truly anxious she became with every ticking of the clock. Every time a footstep fell or a person sighed, she looked up and glanced around her frantically, as if he might approach her unawares.<p>

Finally, in a moment that she had decided to pay no attention to anything at all, Draco approached her chair and whispered her name quietly. Shooting up right, Hermione gasped and nearly dropped her book on the floor, her hair falling into her face. Pushing it back, she looked up at him and pressed her lips together, her eyes trying to force a happy look.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He laid a hand on her shoulder, but she tensed her muscles and he could feel her discomfort. So he walked to the other side of the table and settled down across from her. "Do you want to talk?"

"What about?" She asked, sliding her book mark into place.

"Last night…" He asked, his eyebrows rising. "I just wanted to apologize about taking you to that party. It was weird…"

"Oh no, I thought it was just fine. Thank you for showing me the Slytherin Common Room. I never thought I would get to see it." She nodded, looking up at him.

"Hermione, I know you saw… things. I know you're upset with me." He countered, his posture becoming more rigid with every word of discomfort.

"Why should I be? You have the right to kiss any girls you want and dance with anyone. You aren't tied down to anyone in particular." She reasoned. "My only problem is that you called her a slag. That's very unkind."

"You're being odd, Hermione." His eyes narrowed as he looked at her, sitting back in her chair and barely looking at him with the same kind of affection she once had.

She shook her head in response. "I am not."

"You are! You won't speak to me in the way you used to and you purposefully avoid the real problem. Hermione, if you were to abandon our friendship for your cold-shoulder antics, I wouldn't know what to do anymore. I would have nothing left."

"Stop being dramatic. How am I giving you the cold shoulder? I'm talking to you aren't I? What more do you need from me?"

He almost couldn't answer. He just knew things were shifting beyond his control and he only had a few minutes left in which he had any hope of saving things. But he was getting angry, and his palms had begun to sweat and he felt his pulse in his ears. She sat, unaware of his rising temper, believing it to be something he had worked on and cured.

"And furthermore," she hissed. "If you think your life stops without me, you're just being cruel. How many times have I told you to tell me the truth and to stop with your insincere compliments? I'm not being odd at all! I'm just fed up with your lifestyle getting in the way of a real friendship."

"What lifestyle? I've spent the past month dogging after you and trying to please you and your wholly puritan views, molding myself into a person you could care about. It's utterly ridiculous! You think I'm just going to get up and change for you? I'm not! Malfoys don't change!"

"I never asked you to change!" She hissed. "I only asked you to be kind. And if you think that's an outrageous request, I don't think we were ever supposed to be friends anyway."

"Of course we weren't meant to be friends; we had to defy the odds just to meet each other in any cordial way. You don't think something so unnatural and unique is worth fighting for?" He exclaimed, hurt in his voice and irritation in his eyes.

"Not everything that is unique is useful. Just because we defied something doesn't make it right." Hermione tapped her fingers on the table for a second before continuing. "We don't get to decide if things work out or not. We just take what we're given and let go of what we can't have."

"I'm not letting go of you." He reached across the table and grabbed her fingers, squeezing them tight so she could jerk away. "I thought you were Sylvia. I thought you were the one who was kissing me and I don't know why I couldn't open my eyes to face reality."

"That's ridiculous… You couldn't have possibly assumed that logically." She stammered, fearing that an amorous confession was on the brink.

"It was a remarkably far-fetched idea, but it was all I could think about. I wanted it to be you so badly I pushed reality away."

"You didn't push her away. I watched you two for some time you know." She finally admitted. "I hated you so much. I hated her a little, but I couldn't blame her. Oh but, Draco, I absolutely despised you."

He let go of her hand then, just so he could bury his face in his own. "Merlin, Hermione." He rubbed his palms into his eyes and sniffed. "You can't imagine how horrible that makes me feel. When I finally opened my eyes and began to see truth, I have never been so disgusted with myself."

"That's probably not true." Hermione babbled before she could stop herself. "Oh no!" She covered her mouth with her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"Yes you did." He snapped. "And perhaps you're right. I never wanted to come back to this school after what I had tried to do and what I had done for my father and against everyone. But I did, at my mother's insistence, and I'm glad now."

"I know how much you hate to talk about it. I'm sorry…" She reached out and touched his elbow.

"No, you should know. On the night that I… tried to… ah, kill Dumbledore, I didn't know anyone kind in the world, and I had never known peace or happiness or friendship. Nothing held me back from doing the most horrible thing in the world. I could have handled it tolerably well, too, I think, if he hadn't been so calm and… dammit, if he hadn't been to bloody nice to me. He offered me a chance to be happy and at peace, because he cared about me. That's what saved my soul, Hermione." He had begun to tear up a little and he scrunched up his nose. "I was so relieved when Snape did it, I thought I would cry. So when we got into hiding, I did cry a little. My father beat me and the Dark Lord tortured me until my mother's wails distracted him. But I didn't notice anything else, because for the first time, someone had shown me compassion and pity, and tried to help."

"Oh Draco…" She murmured.

"So do you see why you're so important to me? I may have had to force you to be nice to be and to show me any attention at all, but… Salazaar, it's reminding me every day of why I'm alive. So talk to me about these things. If I lose you, I lose the one true friend and my one reminder of salvation."

Hermione looked down at her lap and grimaced. She could already see the many problems arising from his confession, as heartfelt as it was, and knew this young man had much more to learn.

"Draco, you can't do this. It's dangerous to put your identity in someone like that." She whispered. "I don't want to be responsible for ruining you. I'm not perfect or good. I'll lead you astray and let you down all the time."

"I need you to be human for me! I don't need a savior, Hermione, I have one of my own. I just need you to be human and to be real. I'm not asking for you to lead me in life, and I'm not trying to convince you to let me depend on you for life. I just want a person to introduce me to the kinder side of the world." He pleaded, his eyes getting wide as he realized how easily misconstrued his words could become.

"What about you not wanting to change to my puritan values? Which, by the way, I don't have, so I don't know where you got that at all."

He smiled grimly. "I'll probably change in due time, as will anyone if they are exposed to something better than what they have. Don't be concerned about that."

"Oh Draco… Are we still fighting?" She laughed.

"Were we ever?" He asked, his smile becoming friendly and real. "You are a very good friend."

"So are you." She promised. "So are you."

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><p><strong>REVIEW. PLEASE. PRONTO. LIKE, NOW.<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**This one is really long. I hope you like it, but I have to admit, it's really only a filler chapter. It's full of fluff and interaction, but I'm going to wind this story down soon, hopefully culminating in a magnificent, Dramione-worthy ending. **

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><p>They may have decided to be friends, but Hermione wasn't quite willing to devote her time to him so much anymore, aware than anything like that on her side would be ill perceived. In the moments leading up to their meetings, Hermione would try to appear more casual and unconcerned, while Draco began to try harder at looking nice and respectable. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between them now, with their infrequent meetings and nonchalant approach to talking with each other. People would watch them and not know what to say anymore. They were old news, and tongues turned in a different direction. A first year had fallen into the lake and the giant squid had carried it around the pond for hours before anyone noticed. One of the Ravenclaw prefects had been caught snogging a fifth year from Hufflepuff. Neville Longbottom had a girlfriend but he wouldn't tell anybody about her.<p>

Being old hat as they were, Draco still turned heads when he walked down the hall and people still cordially shouted hello whenever Hermione was around. When they walked places together, people just did a combination of the two, ogling and being friendly.

"Are you going to hang out with Draco tonight?" Ginny asked casually one afternoon. The Saturday had progressed slowly and without event, and Ginny was anxious to see a change in her roommate's day.

"What? Oh- yes, we were just going to take a walk as soon as he finished studying for his Potions test on Monday. He said he'd contact me." Hermione sniffed and looked back into her book. Ginny fidgeted eager to get out of the stuffy room and see Blaise. She couldn't leave without causing suspicion if she did it alone, but if she and Hermione left the room together…

"What if we go out now? Did you at least have a rough estimate of when you were supposed to meet?" The redhead pried.

"Twenty minutes ago." Hermione answered. "He's probably running late."

"You certainly trust your fella don't you?" Falling dramatically onto a nearby bed, Ginny sighed. "Oh, will Lavender mind if I writhe in mortal agony here?"

"Probably not; that's where she does all of her wailing and carrying on. And he's not my 'fella' as you so succinctly put it. We're friends, nothing more." Hermione finally looked up from her book and gave Ginny an odd glance. "Why are you so eager to see me out then?"

"I thought we could go out together." Ginny answered innocently. "I'll just walk you to him and then… meet a friend or something."

"Meet a friend?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Just someone I'm talking too. It's nothing huge yet." Ginny shrugged. When Hermione didn't stop looking at her inquisitively, she became defensive. "Oy! Stop looking at me like that! I've done nothing wrong."

"I didn't say you had yet. I just think it's unfair to Blaise to play down your relationship, that's all."

Ginny's mouth fell open. "How did you…?"

"Draco told me on accident. He assumed I knew because you and I are so close. He felt horrible afterwards, but I assured him it would come out of you eventually." Hermione laughed. "So I thought I'd wheedle it out of you and see what happened."

"You aren't mad that I didn't tell you?" Ginny enquired eyes wide. "Because I was going to tell you, but I just wanted to make sure it was a real thing before I let it… out."

"I was a bit hurt at first that you didn't think you could trust me with it, but it's alright now. It was your secret to keep if you wanted too." Hermione shrugged. "And besides, I knew it was a matter of time. You can never keep these things very long to yourself."

"It's been two months." Ginny confessed.

"A new record for you then." Hermione lauded. "Alright, if you want to go out so eagerly I'll just head to my meeting place early. You can meet your man if you want."

Squealing with joy, Ginny bounced off the bed and jumped around a bit. "Let's go now!" After grabbing Hermione's hand, they flew down the stairs and into the common room, only slowing down enough to look casual and unhurried. Once they exited the door, their feet came alight with the nervous tension of it all and the promise of meeting. Giggles burbled forth and fell from their lips periodically while they traveled the mostly abandoned halls. Their activity wasn't forbidden or late, but it seemed special in the light of new revelation and excitement.

Their flight down the halls met an abrupt end as they turned a corner and rammed headlong into two people they didn't care to see.

"Merlin, Granger! Watch where you're going!" Pansy shrieked, her voice reaching an unnatural pitch that sounded painful.

"Gryffindor Girls going somewhere?" Sylvia Platt, the leggy blonde, commented sarcastically.

"We are meeting friends. Sorry to run into you like that." Hermione covered quickly, hoping Ginny would find time to slide in a nasty retort. While she could barely stand to look at the girls herself, Hermione knew fighting with them would bring no relief to their long-standing feud. Only maturity and a couple hundred miles could calm those Syltherin princesses down.

"You bet you're sorry, mudblood!" Pansy spat. "Who are you meeting? Perhaps we could save you the time and tell you that you probably annoy them with all your stupid talking."

"Just friends." Hermione said quickly. Ginny seemed to be tensing up, ready to make a wild accusation or cruel jab at someone's expense. Hoping to move on past this unfortunate encounter, Hermione began to pull Ginny away, trying to move on and meet their respective boys.

"Well, we're going to meet Draco and Blaise in the library." Sylvia answered, her nose in the air. "Well, I'm going to meet Draco. Pansy and Blaise are probably going to go off and… I dunno, shag or something?"

The two girls erupted into fits of unattractive laughter, as if some kind of remarkable joke had been shared. But Ginny and Hermione couldn't stop themselves from smiling just a little bit, and when they noticed they were smiling together, they began to grin. The chortling stopped from the other two as they witnessed the unperturbed expressions of their Gryffindor counterparts.

"What's your problem? What are you smiling at?" Pansy sneered unprettily.

"We're really running late. I hope you enjoy 'Draco and Blaise.'" Ginny snorted.

"Tell them we say hello!" Hermione smirked. Then they backed away and started running away again, girlish giggles trailing behind them.

"God, what slags." Pansy growled, watching them go with malice in her eyes. "I thought seeing you would make her more upset than that."

"She's not easy to mess with anymore." Sylvia groaned. "Remember when she would get riled up at the slightest provocation? 'Stop messing with Harry! Oh, my grades are bad! Ron isn't THAT fat!'" The girls burst into that unattractive laughter again but sobered up quickly.

"I wonder who they're actually meeting." Pansy grumbled. "I bet its Draco and Blaise. Did you see their faces?"

"Hermione and Draco are all chummy lately, so it wouldn't surprise me if Ginny and Blaise met each other." Sylvia sighed. "I can't stand them stealing our men."

"And back to the "slag" thing." Pansy snapped. "Let's go. I don't want to waste my time on those worthless piles of rubbish."

Hermione left Ginny at the entrance to a secret passage way and went down towards the lake, her attention solely on the magnificent sunset in front of her. The bright shots of pink and purple and orange all reflecting against each other, filling the cloud-spotted sky with a breathless magnitude that seemed to stretch on forever, and Hermione wanted to fly into it. She wondered if you could ever be in a sunset and feel the colors, and after that thought she laughed.

"What are you laughing at?" A deep, warm voice asked from behind her. She didn't even turn around, familiar enough with the voice to know who it was.

"I was imagining what it would be like to feel a sunset." She answered calmly, a breeze brushing her words back to him, in a way reminiscent of their musical meetings.

"I imagine you can." Draco responded, coming up very close behind her. She could feel his warm breath and she could sense his arms about to come around her in an embrace. Suddenly afraid, she stepped away and turned to face him.

"How did your studying go?" She asked brusquely, trying not to notice the brief moment of pain in his eyes at her rejection.

"It went alright. Pansy tried to cut in and get help, but I knew she wasn't taking the same test as I was. She's in a different class altogether. So that delayed me a bit. You came down anyway though, without waiting for a notice from me. I hope you weren't waiting long." He answered politely, even though he felt put out by her behavior in that moment.

"Oh no, I just arrived myself, maybe five minutes ago. Funnily enough, I ran into Pansy on my way down. She and Sylvia were going off to meet you and Blaise, which I couldn't help but laugh at. They didn't like that much." Hermione was glad to see a smile burst out onto Draco's features.

"They must have despised that. I hope you didn't get upset with them too much. They can be quite nasty when crossed." Draco laughed.

"I don't see why you continue to hang out with them." Hermione started to walk toward the lake and Draco followed. He captured her hand and she decided to let him keep it.

"They're nice enough in chosen company, albeit unkind to others. But I can't just dump them without any ceremony." He answered calmly.

"You need a ceremony to loose horrible friends?" She laughed.

"You twist my words." He accused playfully.

"I only repeat what you say." She retorted, laughing merrily at their banter and preparing herself for another pleasant meeting.

He walked her back to the door of her Common Room and told her horrible potion jokes the whole way. Even though they were ridiculous, Hermione couldn't stop laughing.

"I'm glad we did this. I hate to admit it, but I was getting tired of reading." Hermione confessed, a blush creeping onto her cheeks.

Draco nodded. "And studying only occupies the mind for so long."

"Yes." She nodded, unsure now how to conclude their evening together. Although they had both decided that their relationship had to be platonic, something about their meetings had begun feeling date-like and more than the "intellectual meeting of minds" that Hermione had predicted.

"We should be doing this more often." Draco took a hold of her hand and held it between them gently, his face scrunched into thought. "I don't see why we have to maintain such distance."

"We aren't maintaining any distance at all!" Hermione cried out, shocked but amused. "We spend lots of time together but also time with our friends. It's perfectly balanced and we are getting to know each other as friends and companions. I think we've more than compensated for our pasts… Hey!"

Draco had swooped down to kiss her on the cheek, and he pulled away smirking at her protest. "What is a kiss between friends?"

"Friends don't kiss, Draco." Hermione scolded.

"Sure they do." Draco looked behind him and saw Ginny walking up to them, a dreamy look on her face, her lips swollen from what had to have been very passionate snogging. As soon as she approached them, Draco leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek. "See?"

"Oy, Draco. I'm currently taken." Ginny reprimanded, but she grinned saucily. "Unless that was a friendly kiss, then it's acceptable."

Groaning at her defeat, Hermione turned to go up the stairs that would lead to her common room. Ginny bounced ahead of her and whispered the password to the Fat Lady, who swung open obligingly, but closed quickly so Hermione had to stop and say it again. Cheekily, the Fat Lady winked at her and promised to be right back, but she just had to visit a friend in another portrait for a brief second.

"The nerve!" Hermione balked, as the Fat Lady left. "It's not her job to do that!"

"Very convenient for me though." Draco raised his eyebrows. "More time for me to convince you to see me tomorrow morning."

"I generally spend time with Harry and Ron on Sunday mornings. It's a tradition."

"Will you go to Hogsmeade with me that afternoon then?" He tried.

"You always go with Blaise and Pansy and Daphne though." She sighed and turned back to the portrait, feeling more than a little anxious over her prolonged time with Draco. She worried he would try and kiss her again, but this time she would let him.

He chuckled. "You know my schedule then? How very disturbing."

"You mentioned it once." She brushed his comment off quickly. "I don't see how…"

"We'll just ditch all of them. Come on Hermione, don't let traditions keep you from doing what you want." Impulsively, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her up close to his face, grinning at her wide eyes. "Go out with me tomorrow."

"You don't give up do you?" She scrunched her nose up as if disgusted, but Draco didn't give up, pressing his forehead to hers.

"You know you want to do it. We've maintained a distanced relationship for almost a month now…"

They both froze when he said that. A month. What had they promised to do in a month?

Draco, although he realized they hadn't revealed their identities to each other yet, wasn't as concerned as Hermione. His worry, although they were very, very close to the date of manifestation, was that Hermione wasn't ready yet. None of his hopes had met fruition and he wasn't ready to give up that link with her, to abandon that last connection. So while she pondered on what was soon to happen, and what she had to do, he realized he had to go out with her tomorrow and tie up some of the loose ends and help her see… something. He didn't know really what he wanted her to see, only know that she wouldn't leave him afterwards.

Hermione, meanwhile, began to wonder if she wanted to meet her old, secret friend anymore. They hadn't talked in their magical way for a month, and her thoughts were so wrapped up in Draco that anyone else in her life seemed superfluous. Why complicate things with somebody else when she had exactly what she wanted now? She knew that she and Draco could form as wonderful a friendship as she and her musical companion had, with little or no trouble at all. Was it worth it for her to go see him now?

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><p><strong>REVIEW. If you don't, I'll be so hurt, I won't update for weeks. Once I recuperate, I might start thinking about writing another chapter. <strong>

But seriously. Review it.


	16. Chapter 16

Hermione wasn't actually sure how Draco ended up talking her into the Hogsmeade trip. She just knew that she was standing in the courtyard of Hogwarts, telling Harry and Ron that she would see them later. The crisp winter air bit at her nose as she watched her two friends wander down the path, looking back at her occasionally and talking to each other in low, disappointed voices. While she hated to leave them in the lurch like that, she didn't mind ignoring them if they weren't planning on supporting her decisions. It would always hurt, but they didn't have to see that right now.

Feeling a tug on her scarf, Hermione turned around to see Draco standing behind her, one hand tucked in a pocket, the other coming to wrap around her back. "Are your dafties gone then?" He asked, his breath materializing in front of him and the warmth of it hitting her cheek.

"Sure. But they're very suspicious of us. I wouldn't put it past them to follow us around and stalk out our movements just to make sure we do nothing unpure." Hermione allowed him to pull her into his side, but she felt uncomfortable with it as they walked along the path to Hogsmeade. They made idle and uninteresting chat the whole way there, discussing the classes and people they knew. Hermione hummed under her breath and Draco asked what song she was singing. She answered and he smiled, not knowing the song, but enjoying the sound of it as it came from her.

"Do you want to go somewhere in particular?" Hermione asked him, hoping he had organized something. Not that she wouldn't survive without some kind structure, but she would rather have a schedule than anything.

"Just The Three Broomsticks and then to the sweet shoppe. I thought we'd head back up to the castle and read by the library fireplace after this with our purchases." He grinned at her, his confidence becoming contagious enough for her to feel comfortable about his plans. They sounded ideal. At least he wasn't taking her to that dreadful Madam Pudifoots.

"That sounds lovely." Hermione confirmed, allowing her body to bump into his side as they walked. Snow was falling but it hadn't started accumulating yet, the ground not yet cold enough to support the precipitation and not melt it.

"I've been reading Steinbeck lately, after you said you admired his works." He suddenly confessed.

"Which one?" Hermione asked, her smile widening.

"Of Mice and Men. I understand that is his most popular. I'm having some trouble understanding it though, considering I know almost nothing about the Americas and muggle history."

Hermione nodded understandingly. "I don't want to sound pretentious, but I hate to be ignorant about those things. Whenever I have free time, I pursue a muggle education as well. That's how I discovered him at all, was that his work was referenced in a book about American history."

"Are you still studying American history then?" Draco asked, wondering when this busy girl had time to do anything at all.

She sniffed. "Oh, no I finished that in fourth year. I'm doing Music Theory and Philosophy now. But I had a study partner in music theory who I don't talk to anymore, so that course of study has stalled." She looked at him then, her eyes seeming to hold questions and answers all at once, and Draco wondered not for the first time whether she'd figured some of his motives out. "Do you pursue any independent study or are you like the lot of them up in the castle, too transfixed with magic and potions to do anything else?"

"I have read a few books about other things. But by and large, I haven't really been interested in anything that had to do with the world outside of magical things." He admitted. He knew she wouldn't think highly of him after he said it, but she would probably despise his lies.

"I didn't really expect you too." She smiled. Then, much to his surprise, she grabbed his hand from where it rested on her hip and pulled it into one of the large pockets of her coat. Settling into the warm space with her fingers wrapped in his, Draco felt another wave of confidence that nothing about this outing would possibly go wrong.

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><p>"I can't believe you said that to her." Hermione huffed, marching away from Hogsmeade and what might have been a wonderful brunch had it not been for the stupidity of Draco Malfoy.<p>

"I don't see what you're so upset about! You seemed alright in the shop!" He called after her, following as best he could.

"I didn't want her to think she could get a rise out of me." Stopping abruptly, she turned and faced him angrily. "You should have known that seeing her would upset me, considering. I have forgiven you but not her."

"Sylvia just doesn't know how to take a hint…"

"You haven't been giving her the right hints. Bloody hell Draco, don't even bother with hinting, and just tell her out right that you aren't interested. Which, if your statement means anything, then you probably weren't hinting anything to her at all." She gave him a stern look before whipping her head around and trekking away. Draco sighed dramatically and began to follow her again.

"This is ridiculous, Hermione." He said.

"You're right. You are ridiculous." She snapped.

"I'm sorry." Draco shouted. "I'm sorry I ignored you when she talked to me and then laughed when she called you a cow. That wasn't my intention at all. I laughed because it was a funny idea, not because I agreed. It just fell—"

Hermione rushed back and put her hand over his mouth. "Do you have to yell it and make such a scene?" She whispered, blushing. "I don't want any more attention than we already have."

Draco smiled under her hand. She hadn't realized their proximity just yet, but he had. So his hands snaked around her waist and held her there. She fidgeted, but she didn't struggle against his hold.

"If I remove my hand, will you be quiet?" She asked.

Draco shook his head no. "I'll apologize profusely and loudly until you forgive me."

"Fine. I forgive you, but I still think you were completely out of line." She removed her hand and Draco kissed her cheek.

"I agree. I was completely handicapped."

"Don't kiss me anymore, Draco Malfoy." She warned, pulling away from his as far as she could in his arms. "I don't care what you think you can do in a friendship, but that is not permitted."

"Only in friendship though?" He asked, inclining his head after her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She indignantly asked.

"What if a fellow caught your attention? Would you let him kiss you?"

"Where?"

"Anywhere, Hermione. Just answer the question."

"I don't know. No one has 'caught my attention' enough for me to have pondered it." She admitted sharply.

"Oh come now, don't be cruel. There has to be someone that you're close to…" He prodded jovially.

"You are fishing for compliments Draco. That's very unattractive." She chided. Smirking, he finally released her and they started walking back up to the castle, a bit more at peace with each other than they were before.

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><p><strong>REVIEW. And chastise me for taking so long to update. But you would too if you were depressed and having a life crisis. <strong>


	17. Chapter 17

The intentions of Draco Malfoy toward Hermione Granger were become readily apparent to anyone who looked. His gaze, attentions, and conversation all pointed toward the same inevitable conclusion that he intended to woo her and make her his own. Yet she opposed him at every turn, vaguely mentioning someone else or that she didn't know if she wanted that now. They never discussed it openly, as casual friends do, but with hints and innuendoes towards the subject. A lesser man would have been properly dissuaded, but Draco still had the upper hand, which in his mind was a royal flush.

"You're sitting too closely, Draco." Hermione noted solemnly. "I don't need that much help on a potion's essay." They were sitting in the library, their shoes and socks in a small pile by their table. It wasn't technically a study date so much as an excuse to be near one another again

"I tend to gravitate towards you. It's not something I can help." He shrugged and scooted away. "Oh dear, here I go again…"

He leaned onto her shoulder and Hermione laughed, but she still pushed him away. "Then go to the other side of the table. You are being quite a distraction."

"You admit that you are distracted by me?" He grinned, dutifully moving his books and sitting opposite her.

"It's always distracting to have an annoying young man throw their bodies around like a dead weight. And just because we're across from one another doesn't mean we play footsie. I had quite enough of that in History of Magic."

Draco pulled his feet back, grumbling. "You seemed to enjoy it then."

"Only because I already knew the material and didn't mind the distraction." Hermione glanced up at him and blushed, giving Draco that confidence he needed. He slid a foot back in between her own feet and rubbed her ankle.

"You're just writing from memory now, aren't you?" He asked.

"Yes." She whispered. But then feeling foolish about that, she spoke up louder. "Of course."

"You don't need to pay attention to what you're writing down because it's going to be the second best paper in class." His foot traced up her leg and then back down, and he was quite pleased to hear Hermione's breath halt.

"First best. I read your paper on accident and it wasn't very good. Too many split infinitives and you were wrong about the amount of gillyweed in the Rungart Potion and its effects. I believe I'll take the lead on this one."

Draco pulled his foot back sharply. "You certainly can ruin a moment."

"Oh?" Hermione, still a bit flustered from his advances but not at all incapacitated, stuck her foot out to meet his. "Perhaps I wished to have a slight advantage."

"That's not very feminine, but it's from you so I'll let you have it." And so they commenced to playing with one another's feet under the table, neither of them speaking again until their homework was completed.

They didn't notice a very disgruntled Pansy and Sylvia hiding behind a bookshelf, plotting and scheming and being generally hateful.

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><p>Harry and Ron also found time to sneak around and watch the pair, although their mindset was not so malicious. Harry had actually had a couple of decent conversations with Draco in the past month, but Ron couldn't think of much to say when he had the same opportunity.<p>

"It was awful. I just stood there, gaping at him like a fish." Ron put his face into his hands.

"What did he say?" Harry was pretending to read a book, but he could see the back of Hermione's head and part of Draco's face while they all worked in the library.

"Well after I said hello he asked if I needed anything. I said no, not a thing, and he nodded and waited for me to say something else I guess. So I stared at him and tried to think of something to say that didn't involve Mione, but my mind just went blank. I don't want him to think I'm some lump he can push aside. I'm a force to be reckoned with when it comes to my friends." Looking up again, Ron peered over his shoulder. "Oh bloody hell. What are they doing?"

"They've been playing footsie for about ten minutes, but it looks like they are both studying fine." Harry muttered.

"Well that's rich. The cheeky bloke just moved in and completely dominates her now."

Harry laughed. "If you think Hermione's dominated by anyone, you'd be sorely surprised. This morning I heard her telling Ginny about how she holds him back and monitors their interaction. If anything, I'd say she dominates him."

Ron slouched back down in his seat. "You're probably right. This is awful; we're spying on our best friend."

Feeling foolish, Harry put the book down and finally looked at Ron rather than Hermione's back. "Let's go to the Quidditch pitch then. If he's going to spend all his time with Hermione, we might as well use it to our advantage."

"Do you maybe think that's why she's hanging out with him? To keep him from practicing? I overheard someone say that he's missed practice twice now. I bet his game is all off." Ron asked hopefully.

"We can dream."

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><p>The day of their arranged meeting was scheduled to happen in less than thirty-six hours, and Hermione was getting anxious. She wanted to play again, to escape up into the hills around Hogwarts and let her flute become a living thing that swelled her consciousness. So instead of meeting with Draco after Quidditch practice, she told him she was going out for a walk on the grounds. Accordingly, Draco ran to his room, grabbed his violin, and raced to his usual spot. But rather than responding to her music right away, he decided to listen.<p>

Her song was slow and complex, speaking of misunderstanding and confusion, but also of joy. He could tell that each trilling note was meant to convey a thought on her situation. She feared betraying one for the other, when both were so perfect. Draco liked that part. Yet her pain was evident enough that he didn't feel like leaving her in it for long. Beautiful and haunting as the song was, he would rather she play happily and excitedly than elegantly and sorrowfully.

_I hope you don't mind that I'm here._ He played cautiously.

_Of course not! I was hoping you might be here. I have missed talking to you._ She responded, her music soaring into a more cheerful turn.

_Your song was beautiful. I understand your feelings though. That is why I think this meeting is so important._

_I am anxious to meet you as well. I hope our friendship will continue to blossom in spite of it. _She felt awkward saying that, but she wanted him to know that they could never be more than friends. Not now anyway.

Draco, still feeling jaded even though he knew what she meant, tried very hard not to sound bitter in his response. _I'm sure we'll have a wonderful friendship._

_I just hope I never led you on to think there was more here than that. I would feel awful if I had. _She played it quickly, but she regretted it as soon as the notes left her flute. It was a ridiculous thing to say, and it would undoubtedly make their meeting awkward again.

_Don't be worried about that. I'm just glad I'll finally get to meet the person behind the magnificent music and compelling thoughts. _Draco felt confident that the violin was being friendzoned because she liked the boy in real life, but it was still unsettling to be "the other guy" as well as the romantic interest. He could safely say it had never happened to him before.

_Let's meet earlier than we planned. What about in the morning, just after ten?_

This shocked Draco, as he didn't expect her to change her plans, but then he remembered… The day they had decided to meet was the last day of term, and the day before Christmas vacation. She wanted to be able to leave as soon as possible, he guessed.

_That sounds fine. _He answered. In his head though, he pitied the poor sap Hermione thought this guy was. If he didn't know that she was in love with him already, this guy would be perfectly set up for a broken heart. But that thought was awkward also, so he decided just to ignore it. _I'll see you at the Astronomy Tower at ten._


	18. Chapter 18

**Here's the end, sans epilogue. There will be a final chapter, but it will be a brief "Here's how they're doing now" kind of chapter. Just so the looming unknown of how their relationship will now work with this new little element. Please enjoy, as I worked extra hard to finish it in between trips. **

On the eve of Christmas vacation, Draco spent a good deal of time looking out his window. His room was one of the only rooms in the Slytherin dungeon that had a small window by his bed. When he had been a first year and first shown to the space, Draco immediately claimed the bed underneath the little twelve inch by twelve inch square and defied anyone who wanted to argue with him about it. Although unimpressive, the view meant the world to Draco, because he owned it. Warm, sandy stone covered the opposing wall, and it you pressed your face against the right side, and looked very closely, you could just see a sliver of dusty blue and green that represented the forest and the lake, densely packed into a slice of air.

He had a meeting today. When he had promised to talk to his flautist again in a month, it hadn't occurred to him that it would be in the early deaths of winter and right before a long vacation. He didn't mind. He wanted to tell her who he was, and that he knew her and adored her in spite of it. Imagining the look of surprise on her face, Draco could see her rummaging around in her mind for words, but finally falling silent. Then he would take her in his arms and kiss her cheek and her nose and her eyes and her lips, and he would be happy.

That was all he wanted, in the end. Happiness; enough to sate both of them as long as they stayed together. He thought about how little he'd been truly pleased and joyful about his circumstances. Admittedly, it wasn't often, not that he'd ever tell his mother he was anything but. She had certainly worked too hard on his life for him to even admit to her that his feelings were apathetic and best, and hostile most often. Yet Hermione, without even trying, had managed to fill him with a joy that transcended the shallow, material goods his mother acquired, in hopes it would lift his spirits. She just had to say hello or blink her eyes or tap her fingers and he felt happy. Happy because he was with her enough to see her do these things, happy because she did them solely in his company and she told him so.

Happy. He didn't need passion, excitement, validity, awareness, or lust. He just wanted to be happy, and that's all it boiled down to, because whoever made you happy, you invariably ended up loving.

* * *

><p>Hermione hadn't been able to control her fears and nerves enough to refrain from breaking her cool exterior and telling Ginny everything. How much she liked Draco and how she was worried about hurting the other guy. She absolutely despised her ability to pull these two people to her and possibly destroy both of them. Ginny couldn't offer much consolation, but she did offer the advice to "follow your heart" which only succeeded in making Hermione mad. Why would she follow her heart if it ended up hurting other people?<p>

"I'm sorry! I forgot that you hated that kind of thing!" Ginny appealed, throwing her hands in the air.

"It's only the worse advice in the history of maxims. There is honestly nothing that would make me feel better right now. Can you please just let me panic in the safety of your guard?" She threw her back down on the bed behind her, which was the only one in the room immaculately made.

"Have you already finished packing?" Ginny asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I finished the day before yesterday. When I get worried I organize, so I redid it last night. It's much more efficient now." Hermione closed her eyes and asked what time it was.

"Nearly nine-forty five. Aren't you meeting him at ten?"

"Yes. But I'm thinking about being late."

Ginny, appalled at the disgusting display that her friend was presenting finally grabbed her hands and pulled her up. "Absolutely not. You got yourself into this mess, and if you have to let him down, then you can do him the favor of showing up early and explaining everything to him in person. He deserves that much. So go, and if I ever find out that you do anything different, I promise to cut all your hair and tell whoever is interested in you that you're a man eater."

"Ginny that's…"

"Go!" She pointed fiercely, countering Hermione's protest.

And so she went. Scared to death, but determined to do as she was supposed to and to do it right.

* * *

><p>"You lucky bastard. You have her completely in your control. How many of us dream about this kind of an opportunity?" Blaise watched as his friend tried to do something with his hair, envious of this fantasy being lived out before him. "What are you going to say to her?"<p>

"I regret telling you anything. Did you ever tell Ginny about any of this?" Draco asked, running his hands repeatedly through his hair.

"Not a word. My lips were sealed. .. Sort of." Blaise chuckled. "I bet you'll be excited when you finally get to kiss Hermione."

Draco sighed and leaned back in his chair. "I don't think I'll get to do that for a long time. She isn't really the kissing type."

"You don't think she'll be just as eager to "seal" her lips to yours? What kind of a woman is she?" Mock outraged, Blaise threw his hands in the air.

"A very decent woman. Much better than any of the tramps you've canoodled with."

Blaise gave him a warning look. "Hey, watch it. I'm only canoodling with one now and it's your girl's best friend. You shouldn't call her a tramp."

"I was referring to everyone before Ginny, mate. I like her well enough." Draco stood up and shoved his friend's arm. "I was planning on going to the Tower early so she wouldn't have any time to sit around and back out on me."

"She might just not show up. She has had plenty of time to rethink everything already. A day and a night; that's a lot of time to have sudden epiphanies." Blaise mused. "But Hermione is a steadfast kinda girl. I'm sure you'll have no problem."

"Thanks, you're a real pal, setting my worries at ease." Draco muttered sarcastically. "Well I'm off. Don't get into any trouble while I'm gone, and don't go through my trunk."

"I haven't gone through your trunk since last Christmas vacation. Why would I go through it again now?" Blaise chortled. "Unless your mother sent you those candies again. The ones with the chocolate drizzle and lavender center…"

"I mean it, Zabini. I could hex your balls off faster than you could even consider a counter curse. Touch my candy and I'll prove it." Draco pointed menacingly before quickly turning on his heel and walking out the door, but he walked back in a second later. "Not that I actually have any. Just that if I did, and you took it, I would emasculate you. But I don't have any candy…"

"Thanks mate. Is it in the usual spot?" Blaise pushed the trunk lid up.

"Yeah. Leave some for me will you?"

"Probably not." Blaise answered, his mouth already full of the sweet chocolate candy.

* * *

><p>Draco walked through the halls with more purpose than he ever had in all of his years at Hogwarts. All around him the corridors were mostly bare save for the occasional student scurrying from one side of the school to the other, turning in last minute assignments and retrieving items from friends before they had to take it all home. Never having been the sort of person who lent out his things or packed at the last minute, he watched his peers scurry to and fro with a sense of amusement and haughtiness. While they panicked over details, he had a much nobler and romantic destination, the kind of treat reserved for you if you were diligent. In his occupied state of mind, trying to think of what he would say and what her face would look like and how they would walk to the train together, he didn't see her until it was too late and he was in her arms and her lips were coming close to his.<p>

"Merlin Sylvia! What do you think you're doing?" He jumped backwards, nearly tumbling in his fright.

"Just saying goodbye." She answered sweetly. "You were so forward at the party those months ago, I thought I would just return the favor."

"I told you that didn't mean anything. It was an accident." Draco dusted his arms off as if her hands had left some kind of invisible dirt. "Besides, you don't just go around kissing people. It's considered impolite."

"And wouldn't you know everything about that?" She pouted. "What would you call what you did to me?"

"I called it an accident. I thought you were someone else." He tried pushing past her. "I have to meet someone. If you'll excuse me…"

"You thought I was Hermione, didn't you? God, how gross is it to be mistaken for her. I'd rather die." Sylvia sneered, but suddenly became thoughtful, holding her hands in front of her and pulling back her shoulders. "I don't know why you like her. I thought you were into girls with my… assets?"

Draco blanched. "I'm going to assume you mean your heritage and not your knockers. Excuse me, but I really have to get going."

"You'll remember me, Draco Malfoy! When you're done with boring old her, you'll come back!" She called after him as he jogged down the hall. He turned around but kept walking.

"You have to have done something once to have a relapse Sylvia. And you and I never were and never will be. Good bye Sylvia." He shouted before running back down the hall as far away from trashy Sylvia as he could. He was extremely glad to be free of that kind of girl.

* * *

><p>Hermione paced in the Astronomy Tower, two minutes after they were supposed to meet. Unable to bear the thought that he might have skipped out on her again, she continued pacing, trying to picture his face. But the only one that would come to mind was the face of someone she had formerly sworn to despise until death did them part. Messy blonde hair, steely gray eyes, and that ridiculous smirk seemed to fog up her senses. Of course she would have to tell her anonymous friend farewell, because she couldn't bear to part with her known one. The terrible tyranny of choice loomed over her head and Hermione hated it. But as soon as she heard footsteps echo on the stairs and that face in her mind's eye winked at her and disappeared, she knew exactly what she wanted, more than anything in the world.<p>

Her back was to the stairs, and when Draco finally came up, he couldn't see her face and she couldn't see his. They just stood like that for a minute before Hermione cleared her throat and began to talk.

"I'm really sorry about what I have to tell you, but I'm afraid I can't lead you on any longer. You see, I would love to be friends with you… it would mean the world to me. But… well we can't be any more than that. I know we talked about grand, beautiful things but I have someone in my life already. If you don't want me to know who you are, you can run out now if you want too…"

"I wouldn't dare." Draco interrupted huskily, his voice deep with the longing he had so long hidden from her with a violin masking his identity.

She whipped her head around so fast that her hair became the flame behind a comet. Wide eyes and a shocked mouth filled her features with the kind of wonderment and confusion that one only could find in such baffling situations as these. With her attention fully on him, Draco stepped forward, his hands gently reaching toward her. "Hello Hermione."

"Oh I so hoped it was you!" She cried, and ran straight into his arms, burying her face in his shoulder.

"Oh it's not me. He just sent me up here to tell you that his acne is flaring up again and he had to go to Madam Pomfrey's to drain the pus. He'll be here in an hour or so." He pulled away, the smirk stuck on his face.

"Oh you prat." She hit him but pulled him back into her for a hug. "Honestly though, did you know this whole time?"

"I figured it out at our first meeting. I didn't think you'd believe me then, so I warmed you up to me. I've never wanted someone to think well of me so much before." His arms held her so close they lost the definition between them. Her skin became his skin and her robes became his. They were just one being standing in the middle of the astronomy tower, their eyes full of stars.

"And I guess it worked, because I've never thought so well of anyone else in my life. Except maybe my father. And Harry and Ron. And Neville has his moments…"

"Don't tempt me, Hermione. I might throw you off this tower." He pulled back so he could look at her, and her eyes closed in sudden rapture. "Or do you think you might throw me off, for not telling you about it?"

"Never. I'm happy you did things the way you did. I wouldn't have had it any other way." She grinned at him and her eyes were lit like lanterns. Feeling suddenly brave, Draco pressed his forehead against hers.

"I know you'll say no, but I'm just going to ask, so I can't be accused of not trying. Can I kiss you now, Hermione?"

"Of course you can." She answered smugly. When he leaned in to peck her cheek though, she became indignant. "Oh, properly, Draco. You have to kiss me properly!"

Without any hesitation, he grabbed her face and pulled it flush against his so that their lips met and crushed each other. Her arms snuck around his neck and his wound up in her hair as they lost their sanity and clarity of thought in the senseless euphoria that enveloped them. And they were happy.


End file.
